THE HSE is planning major changes in how emergency ambulance services are delivered, with the introduction of a centralised national triage system.
The new system will aim to reduce the number of patients admitted to hospital by 30 per cent, treat more patients in their homes, reduce the amount of emergency vehicles needed and create significant savings, according to the director of the National Ambulance Service, Robert Morton.
Under the new national triage system, all calls will be categorised in one live call centre to determine the appropriate gateway to healthcare for the patient.
New options available for patients will include treatment through phone advice from a health professional, referral to a different health service or the deployment of an ambulance with an advanced practitioner, who may be able to fully treat the patient on site.
The current ambulance system generally dispatches an ambulance for every emergency call even if it turns out that the patient doesn’t need to go to hospital or could have been treated by a GP.
The new system will take up to three years to be introduced as it needs to be supported by specific clinical guidelines and official connections with other parts of the health service, such as social care, that are not currently in place.
The clinical protocols are being formulated by consultants in emergency medicine and should be finalised in about 18 months’ time, with a further six to 12 months before the training programme is commenced, Mr Morton said.
“It will be a quantum change for many patients . . . The future is very much about hospital avoidance. The model of the past was that the ambulance went out and fetched the patient to healthcare,” he said.
“Today’s model is about taking some healthcare to the patient but bringing every patient ultimately to healthcare. Tomorrow’s model, where we plan to get to in the next five years, is about taking healthcare very much to the patient rather than bringing them to healthcare,” he added.