What you suggest is common sense.
What is presently happening is not driven by common sense (or evidence based
either).
All animals are equal - but some are more equal than others.
The health playing field is not level.
Jeremy Harrison
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Webster [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 30 June 2005 13:26
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Taking health care to the patient: Transforming NHS Ambulance
Services
It may just be a slightly cynical thought but will more ECP's going out to
the home actually save money?
As we have seen with NHS direct/ WIC etc it tends to increase demand without
any real proof of impacting on A&E services.
A "medic" coming to your house may be an attractive option for many people,
but it may turn out to cost more. People who previously would have gone to a
WIC/MIU will instead call 999 to wait for their ECP to turn up in their
shiny MPV.
GP's have moved away from doing house visits as far as possible because it
takes more time to drive from house to house compared to seeing
significantly more patients in the GP-COOP centre. There are also the issues
of seeing patients in an inadequate household setting and the security
issues of working on their own.
Perhaps it would be more cost effective to hire a driver to pick up patients
in an MPV to deliver to a GP COOP or A&E department. If the ambulance
control had misclassified the call they could dial 999 to get a 8 minute
response.
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