This report from AACE outlines the English ambulance sector’s vision for 2020 and beyond, and the steps that are required to ensure that it is realised. It has been informed by extensive consultation within the sector and with key stakeholders, and in response to the current healthcare policy and economic contexts.
2020 and beyond vision
• Mobile healthcare provider with a multitude of roles including: navigation; co-ordination; diagnostics; treatment; transport
• Extended range of settings within which care is offered and range of services available
• New model of care enabled by technological development, increasing use of tele-healthcare, and increased investment in and commitment to leadership development within trusts
• Variation across trusts in the extent and specific nature of urgent care activity depending upon local circumstances but underpinned by shared values and commitment to the mobile healthcare provider vision
• Increasing role in health promotion
• Increased number of advanced paramedics working alongside paramedics fully integrated into a multi-disciplinary urgent care team
• Ambulance service playing a key role in system leadership and effectively working with all parts of the NHS in the achievement of its future vision
• The ambulance as a technical hub facilitating the delivery of diagnostic services and treatment
• Ongoing review of services and measurement of effectiveness across urgent care sphere
• Close working with commissioners to develop and realise 2020 and beyond vision
The Policy Context
NHS England’s Five Year Forward View (2014) outlines the areas where imminent change is imperative specifically in respect of demand, efficiency and funding. An enhanced clinical decisionmaking role is proposed for paramedics supporting the delivery of care closer to home and within the community. Such principles are reflected in the Urgent and Emergency Care Review (U&ECR) with services much more closely connected and the ambulance service playing a pivotal role.
The policy context offers the ambulance sector a unique opportunity to reposition itself at the centre of urgent and emergency care provision. This step must be taken within the current constrained financial reality with the ambulance service, alongside other healthcare providers, remaining fully cognisant of the financial savings that can be delivered across the health system alongside simultaneous improvements in patient care.
Ambulance trusts’ strategies, although varying in their response to local circumstance, are consistent in their recognition of the opportunities presented by the U&ECR and awareness of the financial climate within which such opportunities need to be realised.
