Ambulance queuing to transfer patients to A&E at QA Hospital

The road leading to the emergency department in Cosham has been closed except to allow ambulances through.

A spokesman from South Central Ambulance Service said 10 vehicles are currently waiting outside A&E.

He said: ‘We are unfortunately again suffering significant handover delays at the Queen Alexandra Hospital today but we would like to reassure people that we do still have vehicles and staff available to respond to emergencies.

‘While 10 ambulances from the Hampshire east area (that includes Portsmouth) are currently waiting to hand over their patients at the QA Hospital, there are a further 13 ambulances and eight rapid response vehicles working in Hampshire east today.

‘We have a senior manager from the Hampshire operations team currently at QA Hospital working with hospital managers to reduce the current volume of ambulances waiting to handover patients.’

The spokesman added: ‘We would urge people with minor injuries or illnesses to remember to access the range of alternative options available to them including visiting their pharmacist, GP, a minor injuries unit, walk-in centre or dialing NHS 111, rather than dial 999 or take themselves to the emergency department at the Queen Alexandra Hospital.’

As previously reported in The News, QA Hospital had been in black alert last week following an increase in A&E attendances.