New triage policy implicated in 44-year-old’s death

An ambulance service says it has sped up clinical review of lower-priority calls, after a coroner said the new triage process — introduced in response to recent waiting time pressures — ‘will lead to further deaths’.

The coroner raised concerns with West Midlands Ambulance Service after a type 1 diabetic patient died following a long delay in deciding whether to send an ambulance.

Following a pilot in July 2021, all category 3 and 4 incidents at WMAS, except for a predefined list of exceptions, are sent directly to the trust’s “clinical validation team” to triage patients, with the aim of reducing the need for ambulance call-outs. It is thought a similar approach has been introduced across England since covid, as there have been huge pressures on ambulance capacity.

But coroner Emma Serrano has raised concerns about the process in a prevention of future deaths report published this week.

The inquest was told that Ms Finch waited 10 hours for her call to be “clinically assessed” and an ambulance call-out approved as the validation team was “under-staffed”. The PFD report also said that there was “no time limit” for assessments to take place, and no prioritisation system.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 14 June 2023