Jon Kay abruptly halted the latest BBC Breakfast broadcast to deliver breaking news as was joined by Jason Killen of Wiltshire, Chief Executive of the Welsh Ambulance Service.
As Jason connected via video link, a banner flashed across the screen stating: “Welsh Ambulance Service Critical Incident. 340 calls waiting to be answered last night,” highlighting the dire situation.
Jason’s appearance on the programme was to convey a grave message to the Welsh public about the lack of available support due to an overwhelming number of calls, with a staggering backlog of approximately 90 ambulances still awaiting patient handovers to hospitals.
“The pressure for us continues this morning, we had a very very busy day yesterday with increases with 999 calls but also pressure across the urgent and emergency care system in the NHS meant that our ambulances were delayed and with some departments not handing over their patients for very long periods,” Jason detailed to Jon.
Amidst this crisis, the Ambulance Service issued an appeal to the community to reserve 999 calls for absolute emergencies and extended apologies to those affected by the significant delays and ongoing backlog as New Year’s Eve approached.
Jason spoke candidly on-air, stating: “I wanted to apologise to patients who waited too long yesterday and today and continued to wait this morning and thank our teams for providing the best service and really what they could in the difficult circumstances this winter.”
In search of further details, Jon pressed: “We were hearing yesterday that there were 340 people waiting for their 999 calls to be picked up are we going to see anything like that today again? ” The CEO responded: “That’s right and that pressure continues all morning and overnight we’ve had similar amounts of patients waiting far too long and much longer than we would like.”, reports the Express.
He added, regarding the ongoing pressures: “That pressure continues today and I suspect that that will continue through to this evening and into the early part of the new year of course it’s always busier today and we are ready for additional activity and additional 999 calls this evening and people can help us this evening by of course having a good time but drink sensibly and eating before they go out and looking after their friends.”
Jason emphasised: “The public can help us by being sensible this evening if they are out celebrating also using their ambulance and emergency service wisely and only calling us in. A genuine emergency.”
Jon, after hearing the grim situation, couldn’t help but express concern for those in real emergencies today. He responded: “That is scary isn’t it. For people who might be in that position, they might be with a loved one who’s having a heart attack or something… and to know that they might call 999 and be in a queue of more than 300 people.”
The chief executive, while acknowledging the severity of the situation, reassured that they would prioritise helping the most ill. He told Jon: “That’s right but we always prioritise every emergency call that we receive and always respond to the sickest patients first but this pressure across the health system due to flu and covid and other respiratory virus circulating through the winter mean that there is a backlog of patients into the hospitals and emergency departments.”
He further explained: “Meaning that our ambulances can’t off-load their patients when they arrive and they are delayed at those emergency departments and that then means we can’t get those ambulances to respond to patients in communities.”
BBC Breakfast airs daily on BBC One at 6am