Ambulance service says lessons learned from 'perfect storm' critical incident

East Midlands Ambulance Trust was forced to declare its first ever critical incident on January 6, due to pressure on hospitals, widespread flooding and intense patient demand.

The “unprecedented period” saw 268 waiting Category 2 calls – the second most serious, such strokes or chest pain – with no ambulances free to respond.

It came as homes across Lincolnshire were flooded after several days of heavy rain.

Lincolnshire County Council’s health committee questioned EMAS leaders about what had been done to prevent the same scenario from happening again.

Sue Cousland, Lincolnshire division director, said lessons had been learned from the critical incident, and ambulance problems in the county were improving.

“It was an unprecedented period of time, and not a position we wish to be in again,” she told the committee on Wednesday, March 12.

“Looking back at the preceding weekend with the benefit of hindsight. There were a number of pointers building up for a perfect storm.

“Now we are acutely aware of these and are monitoring them more closely.”

EMAS asked hospitals to release ambulances as soon as possible during the critical incident.

Category 3 calls were held overnight to see if there were other suitable routes for treatment besides hospitals.

The Lincolnshire director said this has now become “business as usual”, and hospitals aim to free up ambulances if certain levels of busyness are met.

She said: “There has been significant improvement across a range of areas in Lincolnshire, although we’re still not where we want to be.

“Lincolnshire used to be the worst division in the East Midlands two or three years ago – now one of the better, if not the best.”

The committee heard there were still concerns about how often Lincolnshire ambulances were being taken out of the county to other divisions.

“There are discussions about how to ringfence resources across all divisions. We are working hard to stop the export out of Lincolnshire,” she said.