Recurring concern
Delays in ambulance-to-hospital patient handover
- Reports that mention this concern
- 77
- Times this concern has been raised
- 86
- Stated actions linked to this concern
- 337
What this concern includes
Includes delays, target failures, capacity pressures, admission barriers and ineffective improvement measures that directly concern the ambulance-to-hospital patient handover process.
What is not included
- Excludes delays in ambulance response that are not directly linked to hospital handover.
- Excludes generic hospital staffing, social care, patient-flow or capacity deficiencies unless the report directly ties them to ambulance-to-hospital handover delays.
- Excludes clinical handover failures between hospital wards or other services that do not concern ambulance-to-hospital patient transfer.
- Excludes safety monitoring and clinical care while a patient waits where the assertion does not itself identify delayed handover.
Trends
Reports over time
Reports mentioning this concern, over time
Reports about this concern issued each year.
* 2026 is projected from reports observed to 7 Sep 2026.
Most frequent recipients
Most frequent recipients
Reports about this concern sent to each recipient.
Reports and published responses 77 reports
See individual reports that have raised this concern, and the actions taken in response
-
Concerns raised1
Delays in processing ambulances at hospital emergency departments
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- NHS England
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.2
-
NHS England
Improve patient flow through hospitals.
-
NHS England
Speed up hospital discharges.
-
Concerns raised1
Delays in ambulance offloading at Emergency Departments
This report raised 1 other concern. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- Department of Health and Social Care
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.4
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Deliver 5,000 additional staffed, permanent hospital beds compared with 2022/23 plans.
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Maintain the hospital bed capacity uplift during 2024/25.
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Scale up national virtual ward capacity to more than 10,000 beds.
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Provide £1.6 billion over two years to support timely and effective hospital discharge.
-
Concerns raised1
Delays in transfer from ambulance to the Emergency Department
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- NHS England
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.3
-
NHS England
Improve patient flow through hospitals.
-
NHS England
Speed up hospital discharges.
-
NHS England
Focus NHS organisations on improving accident-and-emergency and ambulance handover times.
-
Concerns raised1
Delays in ambulance access and transfer to Emergency Departments
This report raised 3 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- Department of Health and Social Care
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.4
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Fund additional ambulance capacity and maintain the resulting capacity uplift through 2024/25.
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Deliver 5,000 additional staffed, permanent hospital beds and maintain this capacity uplift through 2024/25.
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Provide two-year funding to support timely and effective hospital discharge.
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Continue working with NHS England to reduce ambulance response times and A&E waiting times.
-
Concerns raised1
Delays in entry into hospital from ambulance arrival
This report raised 7 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
No linked response statementsNo respondent-stated action or position is linked to these concerns in the published data.
-
Concerns raised1
Inability to offload patients from ambulances into Emergency Departments in a timely manner
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- The Trust
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.3
-
The Trust
Seek Welsh Government, NHS and local-government support for clinical risk management across urgent and emergency care pathways to release Trust resources.
-
The Trust
Maintain and regularly critique and monitor the Clinical Safety Plan and Regional Escalation Action Plan across the organisation.
-
The Trust
Present and review the Real-time Mitigation Report and Reducing Patient Harm Action Plan at Trust Board meetings.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
-
The Trust
No further or new action is proposed in response to the concerns.
-
Concerns raised2
Delays in ambulance handover at hospitals
Insufficient social care capacity causing hospital patient-flow and ambulance offload delays
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
No linked response statementsNo respondent-stated action or position is linked to these concerns in the published data.
-
Concerns raised1
Delays in ambulance handover at hospitals
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
No linked response statementsNo respondent-stated action or position is linked to these concerns in the published data.
-
Concerns raised1
Delays in ambulance handover across BCUHB sites
This report raised 1 other concern. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- Betsi Cadwaladr University LHB
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.2
-
Betsi Cadwaladr University LHB
Implement the Integrated Commissioning Action Plan with partners to improve ambulance handovers.
-
Betsi Cadwaladr University LHB
Conduct joint patient-safety incident reviews with the Welsh Ambulance Service and roll out the Health Board’s handover-review model.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
-
Betsi Cadwaladr University LHB
Some solutions to ambulance handover delays fall outside the Health Board’s control or require joint working across health and social care.
-
Concerns raised1
Delays in ambulance crew offload at Emergency Departments
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Linked response
- Department of Health and Social Care
Stated actions An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.3
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Provide 5,000 additional staffed, permanent hospital beds and maintain the capacity uplift.
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Scale virtual ward capacity to more than 10,000 beds nationally.
-
Department of Health and Social Care
Provide funding to support timely and effective discharge from hospital.
Actions and positions describe what organisations say in published responses. Implementation is not independently verified.
Data last updated 7 September 2026