The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) has published a report titled, ‘Delayed hospital handovers: impact assessment of patient harm.’ The document looks at the impact of the pressures on urgent and emergency care systems across the country and how this is affecting patients.
The report contains findings from a review of a sample of clinical records from ambulance services to quantify and describe levels of harm, as assessed by experienced clinicians, during one day across the UK,for patients who waited longer than 60 minutes in an ambulance outside a hospital emergency department (the nationally defined target for hospitals included in the NHS Standard Contract states: “All handovers between ambulance and A&E must take place within 15 minutes with none waiting more than 30 minutes.”).
You can access the full report, and the accompanying media statement by visiting the AACE website. The report is about a national issue therefore the proactive media work is being led by AACE with contact details available via the website.
At EMAS we publish papers from our Trust Board meetings held in public on our website, including updates on handover delays and how they impact on the care we provide to our patients and our staff.