New ambulance service halves ‘waiting’ times
SCHEME NOW UP TO FULL SPEED AFTER SPRING LAUNCH
A NEW ambulance service which has halved patients’ average ‘wait for admission’ time is now up to full speed in Derbyshire.
The Urgent Care Transport Service (UCTS) was introduced in April as a pilot scheme in the East Midlands but, after the recruitment of more staff and the purchase of ambulances, it is now operating seven days a week.
The service is designed to reduce delays for patients and the pressures faced by Emergency Operations Centre staff and ambulance crews.
East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) recruited 100 Urgent Care Assistants (UCAs) for the frontline, two urgent care dispatchers, and one urgent care clinical advisor in their Nottingham Emergency Operations Centre.
Since the introduction of UCTS the average time for an urgent transfer has been reduced from 10 hours 43 minutes to four hours 10 minutes.
Since April, the UCAs have transported more than 14,500 patients to hospital, including 3,115 in Derbyshire.
Neil White, Transformational Delivery Manager, said: “Our Urgent Care Transport Service colleagues are an important, integral part of our accident and emergency service.
“We have already seen a positive benefit for patients with the average wait for admission reducing by half.
“The service has been embedded as part of our operating model, and the addition of further Urgent Care Assistants means we can reach more patients, allowing our frontline A&E crews to focus on our response to life-threatening 999 calls.”
The service provides transport for patients requiring urgent admission to hospital, as determined by their doctor or healthcare professional (HCP), and patients requiring transport without the need for emergency treatment, as identified by the Clinical Assessment Team or frontline A&E crews at the scene.
The UCA’s have not been trained to drive on blue-lights and their focus is on lower priority and nonlife threatening calls. This means the A&E ambulance crews can focus on the 999 calls, and reach the most poorly patients quicker.