The study is exploring what good practices reduce handover delays and aims to explore the impact on patient flows, safety, experience, health outcomes and costs
Areas: 999 calls within Worcester Royal or Walsall Manor catchment area
There has been a problem in the UK and other countries for many years, that at busy times Emergency Departments (ED) become unable to manage the flow of patients. Patients may remain in the ambulance, sometimes for several hours. In some areas, this practice is rare; in others, it is common. When ambulances are queuing, there are ‘knock-on’ effects throughout the emergency care system – patients at the ED may not be receiving full ED care, while queued ambulances are unavailable to attend other patients in the wider community.
West Midlands Ambulance Service is one of four ambulance services taking part in STALLED and has already sent questionnaires, asking some patients for their experiences. These valuable insights, along with routinely collected 999 data will be analysed to determine the impact delays have and what could be done to reduce them. For more information, please see the patient notification here .