Patient's 250-mile trip for a bed

The man was taken by road from Southend to Swansea

A badly-burned Essex man had to endure a five-hour journey to a south Wales hospital because of a shortage of intensive care beds.

The 33-year-old man, who was injured in a fire at his home, was first taken to his local hospital in Southend where they decided he needed specialist treatment.

However, the nearest burns unit at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford - just 18 miles away - had no staff available to care for him.

Instead, the man had to be driven about 250 miles to Morriston Hospital in Swansea.

Doctors assessed the situation and made the decisions they thought best

Broomfield Hospital spokesman

A Broomfield Hospital spokesman confirmed the man could not be admitted to its burns unit.

A spokesman said: "There are four intensive care beds in the unit, which serves the whole of the east of England, and routinely takes people from other parts of the country.

"Each bed needs a high number of specialist staff. On Monday, three beds had patients but the staff were not available for the fourth bed.

"The system basically worked as it is supposed to.

"When there is no space in the nearest available unit, doctors go through the chain to find the next nearest space and that was in Swansea.

"Doctors assessed the situation and made the decisions they thought best."

It was decided to move the man by road rather than wait for an air ambulance.

A spokeswoman for the Essex Ambulance Service said it had been asked to transport the man to Wales.

"Specialist nursing care was provided on the way and we did what we were asked," she said.

'Beggared belief'

"Consideration was given to using the air ambulance.

"But this was happening at about 0600 BST and the helicopter flies in daylight, which at the moment is from 0800 BST for safety reasons."

The 10-hour return journey to Wales meant an ambulance normally based at Shoeburyness was out of use for almost the entire day.

The Patients' Association said the man's ambulance journey "beggared belief".