Ambulance delays a ‘factor’ in 104 deaths in one region during final quarter of 2022
According to the South West Ambulance Service Foundation Trust, 104 patient deaths reviewed under National Quality Board guidelines in quarter three of 2022-23 related to delays “which are thought to be a result of pressures within the wider health system”.
The trust has stressed the deaths were not necessarily directly caused by delays, but that delays were a “common factor” in the 104 cases.
Since July 2019, all ambulance trusts have been required to implement Learning from Deaths reviews following a report by the Care Quality Commission three years earlier, which found that opportunities were being missed to learn from patient deaths.
A total of 876 incidents were identified as being within the scope of a review at the end of last year by SWASFT, of which 210 were reviewed.
Deaths included in the review occurred while the patient is under the care of the ambulance service, from the initial 999 call being made to their care being transferred to another part of the system or to the point where a decision is made not to convey them to hospital.
Read full story (paywalled)
Source: HSJ, 4 April 2023