Evaluating clinical safety in non-emergency and multi-occupancy Ambulance transport.

What is it about?

The study evaluates the clinical safety of non-emergency and multi-occupancy Ambulance transport for cardiac patients between hospital sites within the UK. The study piloted the use of a coordinated approach to Ambulance bookings, use of clinical pre-screening and multi-occupancy transport options for this patient group. The data spans a three year period and examines individual aspects of the transport process including transport used, time taken for transfer, clinical incidents and whether multi-occupancy was utilised. The study concludes that non-emergency Ambulance transport and multi-occupancy transport can be safely used where pre-screening processes are in place to identify suitable patients.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Within the UK, there is currently a paucity of evidence surrounding inter-hospital transfer of non-emergency PCI and other cardiac patients, in particular the level of Ambulance required and the skill mix of the attending Ambulance crew. Anecdotally there are various reasons why hospitals request Paramedic transfer of such patients, despite some of these patients being ambulant, self-caring and physiologically stable. The study has challenged traditional views on inter-hospital transfer of non-emergency cardiac patients and has shown that there is virtually no requirement for a Paramedic and/or emergency transfer providing appropriate pre-screening has been facilitated by the receiving unit. It is likely that other UK Ambulance services experience similar challenges in relation to healthcare professional booking practices and the processes used in this study could be replicated in these services. This could offer potentially scalable benefits in terms of freeing up operational capacity, increased resource hours returned into the wider system, potential financial efficiencies and greater capacity to respond to core 999 activities. Further work is needed to explore the wider system benefits of this way of working, the wider benefits of a centrally co-ordinated approach to inter-hospital transfer bookings and consideration of other patient groups for multi-occupancy transfer.

Perspectives