Staffing vital to high hear and treat rates, say trusts

Some 30,000 emergency ambulance trips could be avoided every month if trusts provided more advice over the phone, according to NHS England figures.

The proportion of emergency calls dealt with through hear and treat ranges from more than 20 per cent at the best-performing trusts to less than half that in other areas.

Typically, this involves patients being given advice such as self-care, seeing a GP or pharmacist, or being directed to an alternative pathway for urgent care.

Based on February’s figures, released by NHS England, an additional 30,000 patients could have been seen if every trust matched the performance of West Midlands Ambulance Service University Foundation Trust and London Ambulance Service Trust, both of which dealt with 20.6 per cent of patients in this way.

London Ambulance Service Trust has managed more than one in five patients through hear and treat while seeing an additional 500 to 520 calls each day this winter.

Michael Ward, deputy director of clinical safety and compliance at LAS, told HSJ the initiative had helped lessen demand on hospitals.

He said the trust had boosted recruitment of both band 6 clinical advisers and band 7 clinical support managers, to support control room staff. Advice to control room staff on the most clinically appropriate pathway is readily available, including a 24/7 clinical safety officer.

The trust has also worked to make these roles attractive for staff, with the provision of training and development plus timely feedback on decisions, he said, adding that the roles were attractive to paramedics who no longer want the physical strain of frontline work.

“I think there is scope for more hear and treat,” Mr Ward said. “There is a natural ceiling but I don’t think we have reached it yet.”

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Source: HSJ, 19 March 2025