There was a 250% rise in the number of Emergency Department attendances with a total stay of over 12 hours last year.
In 2023, there were 242 attendances with a total stay of over 12 hours – but this rose to 848 last year.
This is a significant increase on previous years.
From 2015 to 2021, the highest number of Emergency Department attendances with a total stay of over 12 hours in a single year was 76 in 2018.
The figures were revealed by the Health Minister this week in response to a written question from Deputy Jonathan Renouf.
Deputy Tom Binet explained that two operational changes impacted Emergency Department waiting times last year.
He said: “The refurbishment of Bartlett Ward reduced the available medical beds, whilst the conversion of the Acute Assessment Unit to single-sex accommodation improved patient safety and dignity, but reduced bed allocation flexibility.
“Both changes, though necessary, contributed to longer Emergency Department waits.”
Earlier this year, it emerged that increased Emergency Department demand had led to a reduction in clinical capacity in other parts of the General Hospital.
A report presented to the Health Advisory Board in May showed that gastroenterology, spinal orthopaedics and genetic testing were the worst-hit areas.
In the Quality Performance Report, it was stated that: “This is a direct result of clinic capacity being reduced to ensure consultants and senior medical staff availability to manage the emergency activity through the Emergency Department.”
Increased demand for the Emergency Department also led to a reduction in bed capacity for elective inpatients, causing a rise of 19 in the number of patients waiting more than a year for elective surgery.
It was reported to the board that orthopaedics had been particularly badly affected in January.
Express revealed earlier this year that ambulance handover times at Jersey’s Emergency Department are falling short of NHS targets – but the island has no set benchmark for how quickly patients should be transferred to hospital care by paramedics.
In the past six months leading up to January this year, only 78% of ambulance arrivals at the Emergency Department were handed over to hospital staff within 30 minutes.
In the UK, NHS guidelines set a target for 95% of handovers to be completed within this time – meaning that Jersey is falling short of this target by 17%.
But Jersey’s Health Department confirmed it has no official target for how quickly patients should be transferred from ambulance crews to hospital staff.
The department said: “There is currently no protocol, guideline or defined target time for ambulance handover to the Emergency Department, though work to introduce standard operating procedures is ongoing.”