Over 23,000 ambulance journeys have been avoided over the past five months alone in Scotland, due to the Integrated Clinical Hub (ICH), which was rolled out by the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) in December 2022.
The hub, co-located with the SAS ambulance control centres in the west, north and east of Scotland, is made up of a multidisciplinary team of clinical advisors, advanced practitioners and GPs.
It provides assessments for all patients who are initially triaged as non-immediately life threatening and may benefit from a further virtual consultation and referral to other services in the community, rather than unnecessary trips to A&E. The latest data shows that around 71,000 patients have been assessed by the ICH since August 2023.
Michael Dickson, Chief Executive of Scottish Ambulance Service, said: “For those patients who require an ambulance, such as immediate life-threatening conditions, we will always dispatch the most appropriate resource.”
However, he said that the data shows that nearly 50% of SAS patients do not require transfer to A&E and can be better treated in other ways, such as in the home, in the community or through specialist services.
“The ICH plays a vital part in carrying out advanced assessment of these patients to identify their clinical needs to ensure they receive the best possible response for their condition. The hub is a vital tool in helping us free up vital capacity to attend our sickest patients whilst also reducing the demand at the A&E front door by utilising regional and national pathway alternatives,” the SAS chief noted.
