APPROXIMATELY 16 ambulance vehicles were spotted queuing outside Wrexham Maelor Hospital's A&E department.

Due to significant demand on Monday (October 2) which spilled overnight at the hospital, ambulances were delayed further the following day, causing noticeable queues to form outside of the A&E department.

Over 16 ambulance vans and cars were spotted yesterday (Tuesday, October, 3) with patients waiting to be taken into the hospital building. 

Stephen Sheldon, the Welsh Ambulance Service's Interim Head of Service in North Wales, said: “Handover delays continue to inhibit our ability to respond to emergencies in the community.

“The issues and consequences of extended patient handover at emergency departments is deep rooted and well-documented.

“Unfortunately, there is no quick fix. There are many factors impacting the delay in offloading patients into hospitals.

"This is as frustrating for our staff as it is for patients, so we continue to do all we can with our partners to ease the system-wide pressures to put a stop to long delays outside emergency departments."

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Dr Nick Lyons, Executive Medical Director at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, said: “Our Emergency Department in Wrexham Maelor Hospital is extremely busy due to significant demand on Monday and then overnight, resulting in much longer waiting times than we would like, despite the best efforts of our nursing and medical staff. 

“We would like to apologise to anyone waiting for a lengthy time and assure them we are reviewing all options on site to allow us to reduce delays in the department.

"We continue to face challenges to discharge patients from hospital to suitable accommodation or care services. This does impact flow through the entire hospital system, and on our ability to bring patients into and through the Emergency Department in a timely manner and we continue to work with our health and social care partners to improve this.

“We would urge the public to only attend the Emergency Department for life threatening conditions and injuries, and please continue to help us by choosing the right service for their needs."