A new report published on behalf of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) entitled, “Taking Healthcare to the Patient 2: A review of 6 years’ progress and recommendations for the future” was launched at the new annual ambulance service event AMBITION last week (22nd June 2011) in Telford.
The event, held in Telford in the West Midlands, hosted the ALF Conference 2011, where the new publication was formally launched by London Ambulance Service Chief Executive Peter Bradley in his capacity as Chairman of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives.
The new report is a follow-up review of the progress made to date by ambulance services following the publication of, “Taking Healthcare to the Patient” in 2005, a document that set an agenda for considerable change and improvement in ambulance services across England.
Says Mr Bradley: “There were more than 31 ambulance services in 2005 and they merged to form twelve in total. This has led to improved leadership, greater collaboration, financial savings through joint procurement, much better resilience and most importantly advancements in patient care.”
The report sets out how the twelve ambulance services have achieved:
· Major advances in ambulance clinical education and training and in the care provided to seriously ill patients;
· Greater attention being paid to the many patients who do not have a life-threatening condition
· Consistently high patient satisfaction levels
· Significant improvement in the speed of answering 999 calls
· Significant improvement in technology, infrastructure and emergency preparedness
The report finishes with some thoughts on future recommendations to improve the ambulance service even further.
