A PATIENT was left waiting for “at least 30 hours” in the new Southend Hospital ambulance handover unit over the New Year’s weekend.

An emergency department nurse at the hospital has opened up on the overwhelming pressure staff are under at the moment.

The nurse claims staff are at breaking point with many in tears by the end of their shifts.

Mid and South Essex (MSE) NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, said it recognises services are stretched by demand but insists it remains in control of the situation and that residents should not hesitate to attend the hospital if they need care.

The nurse, who asked not to be named, said: “When I was working the night shift over the New Year’s weekend, there was one patient who was in the ambulance handover unit for 30 hours or potentially longer, they had been in there 30 hours by the time I finished shift, so I don’t know exactly when they got moved.

“This is supposed to have been a unit in which we can transit people through in a reasonable timeframe into hospital.

“The idea behind it, to get the ambulances back on the road is good. The trouble is that, without the rest of the system being fixed, all it realistically does is give us a few more cubicles to park patients in a department that is already overcrowded.”

He added: “Before I started a recent nightshift, I sat in the car park staring at the massive queue of ambulances absolutely dreading what I was going to find when I went in.”

The unit, which cost £250,000 and has space for 12 patients, was opened in November.

It is designed to allow ambulance staff to drop off patients and head off to collect new patients, theoretically reducing ambulance queues outside the hospital.

But more is needed to end the long-running chaos of patients in corridors and ambulance queues, according to the nurse.

“There is no simple fix. We have spent the best part of 12 years getting here, it’s going to take us the best part of a decade to get out of it,” he said.

A spokesperson for Mid and South Essex NHs Foundation Trust, said: “All patients in the Ambulance Handover Unit (AHU) are given the care that they need, supervised by a dedicated clinician.

“The AHU allows paramedics to offload patients, knowing they will receive expert care and allowing them to get back on the road.”