10 June 2011
To be attributed to Chief Executive
Peter Bradley:
“We welcome the report by the National Audit
Office and are already implementing many of its recommendations in
London.
“In particular we are pleased that the NAO
recognises the wider role the ambulance service has in delivering
improved health outcomes for patients. We now provide healthcare
direct to the patient, either over the phone, by treating them at
the scene or taking them to the most suitable place for further
care – whether that is a hospital A&E department, a major
trauma centre or a minor injuries unit.
“We agree that efficiencies can be made and
have already delivered savings by working differently in London,
while making sure our patients get the right treatment when they
need it. As an example, we are now giving more clinical advice over
the phone and are taking patients to a range of different places if
they need more help. Traditionally we have sent an ambulance to the
majority of patients and taken them to hospital, and, while that is
the right response for the most seriously ill people, others – with
less serious illnesses such as stomach upsets, cuts and bruises or
minor injuries – will receive better care elsewhere.
“We will take on board the other
recommendations in the report and will continue to benchmark with
other ambulance services and share data to further improve our
services.
“We recognise that we need to become more
efficient by reducing the number of resources we send to individual
incidents; we will always need to send more than one ambulance crew
to the most serious calls, but increasingly we want to send single
ambulance responders to patients with less serious conditions who
can assess them on scene to determine what care will best meet
their needs. We also welcome the report’s comments about the need
for quick and efficient clinical handovers at hospitals.
“And we will continue to work with our NHS
partners and other ambulance services on the introduction of the
111 non-emergency number that will help patients find the most
suitable services for them and further improve patient care.”
- Ends -
Notes to editors
- In 2010/11 the London Ambulance Service
received 1,494,207 emergency calls and responded to 1,058,132
incidents.
- 347,675 of these incidents were
categorised as immediately life-threatening (Category A).
- In 2010/11 we gave 50,058 patients
clinical help and advice over the telephone and referred a further
46,054 patients to NHS Direct, potentially saving almost 100,000
ambulance journeys.
- The cost per incident in London is
£225. The cost ranges from £176 to £251 across England.