Issue - meetings

Purpose:  To receive a short update from Duncan Burke (South Central Ambulance Service) on the changes to the performance reporting regime of the South Central Ambulance Service.

The Panel considered a report (Agenda Item 5) regarding changes to the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) performance reporting targets.  Duncan Burke (Director of Communications & Public Engagement, SCAS) described how the Department of Health (DoH) targets had dramatically changed in April 2011. The new system involved greater measures around clinical care and patient experience with performance reports published on the SCAS website every month. 

There was now a range of eleven indicators that were monitored under the headings of “Access”, “Response”, “Treatment”, “Disposition” and “Outcomes”.

“Access” related to call answering and call abandonment rates.  “Response” referred to time to reach life-threatening emergencies with the former “A8” and “A19” targets renamed “Red8” and “Red19”.  The Trust was no longer required to report on the less urgent Category B calls (“B19”).

“Treatment” targets referred to treatment of severe heart attack, cardiac arrest and stroke.  “Disposition” monitored how effectively call handlers answered calls and elicited the relevant information from the caller the first time.  The “Outcomes” measure reported on the overall success of treatment for cardiac arrest patients. 

The Ambulance Service worked closely with Primary Care Trust (PCT) colleagues to ensure patients received the most appropriate care pathway this was particularly important for dealing with some of the Service’s more prolific callers.

Councillor Boeck asked about the timing of call recording and impact on performance reporting.  Mr Burke, described how an ambulance would be dispatched as soon as the 999-call was connected via British Telecom.  However, a new telephony service was due to be introduced, this was likely to result in an initial drop in performance which was hoped would be back in line with the national averages by the year end.

Mr Burke described how SCAS had the highest rural demand of any Ambulance Service in the Country and therefore the “time to treatment” target was seen as particularly challenging.  The stringency of the measure had also been increased as patients had to be treated by a clinician i.e. Technician, Paramedic or Doctor and not a First Responder.

Councillor Macro enquired about the ambulance turnaround times at acute hospitals such as the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Hospital Trust (RBH).  Mr Burke reported that they were working closely with all acute hospital trusts to resolve such vehicle delays.  

In terms of performance SCAS was top in the Country for “Red8” response times for life-threatening calls and within the top three Ambulance Trusts for stroke care services in the Country. 

Members asked about the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system for ambulances and the triage tool used by call handlers to assess life-threatening emergencies.  Mr Burke described that the software package identified symptoms which could be life-threatening and this would trigger an emergency response. A new ‘111’ call service was also being introduced as a single point of contact for all non-emergency calls. 

The Chairman enquired about the Department of Health (DoH) consultation with SCAS over setting of the new targets. Mr Burke described the dialogue that took place with the DoH and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12