UK ambulance services are facing a perfect storm of pressures. Soaring demand for services, a significant shortage of hospital and care home beds, and an exhausted workforce are all contributing to an unprecedented strain on emergency care. Compounding this, the considerable strain on primary care is causing patients to seek alternative routes to care, leading to an increase in 999 calls for patients who may not require hospital care.
To ease this pressure on local ambulance services, there must be a reduction in unnecessary conveyances to hospital emergency departments and handover delays must be diminished.
Reducing unnecessary conveyances to hospital and treating patients at home in the comfort of their own home not only has benefits for the patient themselves but also supports hospital capacity and the broader healthcare ecosystem. However, it is important to ensure this is done safely and maintains a high quality of care, such as by bringing remote specialist clinical care to the patient, regardless of their location.
Innovative technologies have the potential to support frontline responders by connecting them with remote specialists, improving clinical outcomes, and enhancing patient experiences of their treatment and care.
Enhancing patient care and connecting front-line responders to remote specialist support
This solution is here now.
It is being piloted and tested across parts of the NHS and could radically improve ambulance service performance times (enabling services to get back to consistently meeting their standard targets) as well as other metrics listed in the NHS Ambulance Quality Indicators.
Connected-healthcare specialists Visionable (co-founded and Chaired by Lord Victor Adebowale, CBE) and Excelerate Technology have joined forces to provide the unique Connected Emergency Services solution, enabling faster diagnosis and treatment by bringing in the right people and right information at the right time, regardless of location.
Co-created with emergency services, this collaboration platform connects front-line responders and emergency vehicles with remote clinical support during time-critical emergencies, enabling the sharing of patient information, medical device data and live video feeds simultaneously.
Visionable’s ‘See & treat’ capabilities mean anyone can share live video streams and medical data, facilitating accurate remote triage and thereby safely reducing the number of avoidable ambulance conveyances to emergency departments. By diagnosing and treating patients earlier in the care pathway, patients are only taken to hospital if that is the right place for them – saving time, money, and resources.
It is underpinned by Excelerate’s technology which offers permanent, unbreakable connectivity (via a hybrid of 4g, 5g and satellite), forming the basis upon which a whole new spectrum of healthcare applications and systems can be adopted, creating brand new pathways of care.
Delivering emergency care to improve patient outcomes
Made up of three core components, Connected Emergency Services connects the right people within the urgent and emergency care system and beyond to improve patient outcomes.
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Collaboration Hub
This central platform offers a bespoke management system to facilitate scene, medical device, and patient data sharing with specialist clinicians to help make informed collaborative decisions.
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Connected Responder
Front-line responders can request remote clinical support with the click of a button to accurately diagnose and treat patients at the scene and define the right care plan.
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Connected Vehicles
Connecting the ambulance’s medical equipment and video cameras with the available tablet and/or mobile devices (including body-worn cameras), enabling the reliable sharing of a 360-degree view of the patient’s health with remote clinical support teams to diagnose and treat patients faster.
The solution enables safe reduction in avoidable ambulance conveyances and admissions to emergency departments; by diagnosing and treating patients earlier in the care pathway, patients are only taken to hospital if that is the right place for them – saving time, money, and resources.
Furthermore, it connects the right people within the urgent and emergency care system and beyond to improve patient outcomes and helps to ease pressure on front-line responders by providing access to remote clinical support whenever needed, enabling efficient and effective decision making.
Will you be attending the Emergency Services Show?
In partnership with Excelerate, we’ll be hosting a joint networking event following the Emergency Services Show on Wednesday 21st September.
Join us for the evening to meet other individuals focused on the same goal, and enjoy great food and a welcome drink on us.
