THE AMBULANCE service has become the latest victim of a growing crisis due to rising numbers of patients attending Basildon Hospital’s A&E department.

The emergency department is seeing up to 30 more patients a day than this time last year, which has led to a shortage of ward space and delays getting people from ambulances into the hospital.

The hospital saw breaches of a 15-minute maximum time of getting a patient from an ambulance into a hospital bed for the first time in October.

Hannah Coffey, trust director of operations, said: “It should be done in 15 minutes, be we have had cases where the wait has been more than an hour.”

Hospital chief executive Clare Panniker said: “It is bad for individual patients being left on an ambulance trolley in a corridor and when they (ambulances) are tied up here they can’t be out dealing with other patients.”

Marlene Moura, a hospital governor, told the latest board of directors meeting of the knock on effect across the hospital of overcrowding in A&E.

She said: “People are being put on wards inappropriate for their needs and there are delays in seeing consultants. Some patients have discharged themselves because they are not getting the appropriate care, reports on this have gone to the commissioners.”

People in A&E should be seen within four hours but this is also regularly berached.

Ms Coffey added: “The four-hour performance significantly deteriorated in October and it is continuing through November. It has had a direct consequent on waiting times in the department and most disappointingly of all in October, for the first time, we recorded ambulance delays. It has been a direct consequence of the department and it is about getting patients into the department and into beds.”

East of England Ambulance Service spokesman Gary Sanderson said: “Our Trust works very closely with hospitals throughout the region to address the issue of ambulance waiting times at hospitals. The Trust keeps a constant review of turnaround times.”

The trust has asked an emergency care support team from the East of England Ambulance Service to review A&E to come up with possible improvements It is trying to prevent people coming in who don’t need to be admitted to hospital, by limiting referalls from the PCT and GPs, and treating more people with community nurses at home.

It has also managed to get 15 more beds within the hospital by making changes to the wards. Twelve more will open in early January.

In July the Echo revealed the A&E crisis which has seen admissions rise by nine per cent from also year.

A spokesman for NHS South Essex said: “We have opened additional beds at Mayflower and Bentwood Community Hospital and we are developing a local information and awareness campaign to remind patients and providers of the range of alternative NHS services available. Our focus is to ensure quality of care and safety of patients; but we would stress the importance of using A&E for life threatening and serious illnesses only.”