The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) has produced a video to demonstrate to our professional stakeholders, at national and local level, how the wide range of capabilities within NHS Ambulance Trusts can be applied in support of the transformation of urgent care provision and the NHS Five Year Forward View. You can watch it here.
The Keogh review highlights five key elements for change, which must be taken forward to ensure success:
- To provide better support for self-care
- To help people with urgent care needs get the right advice in the right place, first time
- To provide highly responsive urgent care services outside of hospital, so people no longer choose to queue in A&E
- To ensure that those people with serious or life-threatening emergency care needs receive treatment in centres with the right facilities and expertise in order to maximise chances of survival and a good recovery
- To connect all urgent and emergency care services together so the overall system becomes more than just the sum of its parts
NHS Ambulance Services have a vital role to play at the heart of each of the above objectives.
ENABLING TRANSFORMATION
The following changes are essential enablers if the NHS is to meet the transformation challenge. We need:
- Increased awareness from all NHS partners, especially commissioners, of the vital role that the ambulance service can play in managing Urgent and Emergency Care Patients. Please ensure you are proactively engaged with your local NHS Ambulance Trust.
- Improved partnership working so that the Integrated Services’ model becomes a reality.
Increased investment in training and education to give more of the ambulance workforce the advanced decision-making skills required to enable appropriate home-based assessment, treatment and referrals.- Greater synergy between the NHS 111 and the 999 services so that patients can be managed seamlessly between the two making ‘One Service through Two numbers’ a reality.
- Improved sharing of information so that ambulance staff have timely access to Electronic Patient Records and care plans, enabling them to make the right treatment decisions, improving both the patient experience and clinical outcomes.
- Increased collaboration between the ambulance sector and its CCG Commissioners to ensure that the right services are commissioned to deliver real benefits for patients.
By working closely with the Department of Health, NHS England and local commissioners to ensure the necessary capacity and capabilities are in place across England, the NHS ambulance sector will be able to deliver its essential role, integrating with partner providers in a new Urgent and Emergency Care System.
Please take some time to watch this video to find out more, and help us to help you make these changes come to fruition for the real benefit of our patients.
And please share this page with your colleagues and stakeholders.
