The East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) is piloting a new approach that will see patients getting the help they need more quickly. New ways of integrated working and new digital systems have been put in place to allow ambulance referrals to be sent directly to urgent care response services, such as ‘Hospital at Home’ – a service already in place in Hertfordshire and West Essex.
This means that, where appropriate, people will be seen sooner by the right healthcare practitioner rather than going to hospital – saving hours of delays and in many cases providing a more tailored approach to their care.
The new approach has been launched in partnership with Hertfordshire & West Essex Integrated Care Board and will shortly be rolled out across the EEAST area with other partners to help build on the work done so far in this area across the region.
The new approach includes access for partners to EEAST’s cases so health care partners, and ‘clinical conversations’ – where EEAST paramedics identify appropriate patients and discuss with local health teams if their care can be transferred to a community partner – potentially eliminating the need for patients to go to emergency departments for diagnosis and further treatment.
EEAST chief executive Tom Abell said, “We believe this will deliver real benefits for patients in getting them the help they need. This will help free up our dedicated people to see patients who most need our care and help reduce pressure on hospitals, reducing handover delays at emergency departments. Emergency patients with time critical care will always be taken straight to hospital for treatment.”
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