South Central Ambulance Service faces handover delay crisis with huge waits at QA

Data shared at a Hampshire County Council meeting revealed the South Central Ambulance Service “lost” 5,238 hours in September waiting to hand over patients at hospitals - the equivalent to 218 days’ worth of staff and vehicles

Residents in Hampshire are responsible for approximately 22,000 incidents a month out of a total of approximately 50,000, representing 36.7 percent of SCAS’ total activity with the ambulance service operating in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire. 

Between April and September 2024/25, the number of incidents fell by around 250 a month. However, officers warned that demand is likely to increase again due to winter pressures.

The average handover time across the SCAS area is now 31 minutes and 33 seconds. However, the average at Portsmouth’s Queen Alexandra Hospital (QAH) is one hour, 33 minutes and 59 seconds - around three times longer. Visit our newsletter page to sign up for free Portsmouth news and sport emails

This means that between April and September, the QA lost a total of 18,533 hours, followed by Southampton Hospital, which lost 1,930 hours, North Hants, which lost 1,161 hours, and Bournemouth, which lost 782 hours. 

SCAS officers said QA is more “challenging” than other hospitals. Still, they are working closely with the hospital in Cosham to address the “difficult” situation.

Cllr Patricia Stallard said that the over 5,000 hours lost in just one month is simply “unacceptable in any form”. 

The South West, South East and South North Nodes of the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) cover the county of Hampshire, conveying patients to Hampshire Hospitals, Portsmouth and Southampton, but also on occasion to Bournemouth, Poole and Frimley.

In 2022, a CQC warning notice was published following an inspection of the SCAS. The notice rated the organisation as inadequate, with particular concerns regarding its leadership and safety culture.

Over the last two years, SCAS has remained in the Recovery Support Programme and undergone its internal improvement programme.

During that time, a new chief executive was recruited, along with a number of other changes at the executive level. A formal executive review is now underway. 

However, they will remain in the NHS Recovery Support Programme, which focuses on delivering longer-term strategic and cultural change across the organisation to better respond to the ongoing financial and operational reality in the NHS.

Health bosses at Queen Alexandra Hospital said it was working to help reduce the delays, with beds at the hospital often being occupied by patients waiting to go into social care which then has a knock-on impact with admitting patients being brought in by ambulance. John Knighton, Chief Medical Officer at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, said, “We have been working closely with health and social care partners including South Central Ambulance Service to continue exploring ways to address the delays we know some of our patients face.

“We are still seeing high demand for urgent and emergency care, alongside a large number of patients waiting to be discharged to their next place of care. This impacts our ability to free up beds for patients needing admission and can increase the length of time someone is waiting to be seen in our Emergency Department.

“Patient safety and experience is important to us, and our teams continue to redirect people who attend the Emergency Department, but could be appropriately seen by another service, so that we can prioritise seeing our most unwell patients. O

“Our communities can help by using the most appropriate service for their needs whether that is GP Practice, community pharmacy, Urgent Treatment Centre or NHS 111 if they are unsure where to go.”