An innovative "ambulance handover" facility increases patient capacity at busy times

Healthcare infrastructure from Vanguard Healthcare Solutions has been deployed as an innovative “ambulance handover” solution, helping reduce delays at the emergency department and improve patient experience. A mobile facility is stationed at Peterborough City Hospital’s ambulance bay and provides up to eight trolleys for patients awaiting admission to the emergency department.

The joint project between Vanguard and North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust will increase patient capacity at busy times and enables ambulance staff to be redeployed to responding to 999 calls. The ward will be staffed by the Trust’s clinical team and is due to be on site for six months. Ambulance handover delays and corridor care has been widely reported across the NHS this winter. To help increase capacity at Peterborough as quickly as possible to alleviate and avoid these issues, the project was planned and the mobile unit delivered within weeks.

“As we approached our busy winter period, we knew we needed an extra facility to help us address the lack of capacity in our emergency department. We looked at options and it became obvious that Vanguard were able to respond quickly to our urgent winter need.

“Working with Vanguard couldn’t have been easier. Before the facility was installed, there was concern because we were installing a facility during a very challenging time and with us still needing to run our emergency department. The installation was completed extremely quickly and Vanguard worked with us to create alternative plans to help us cope with the ambulances arriving at the same time as the installation of the unit.”

Caroline Walker, Chief Executive, North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust

“We were delighted to be able to provide a solution which will directly benefit patients in this way and help ambulances to be back out responding to calls as quickly as possible. We have worked closely with the Trust on how a mobile unit could help them at various stages of the patient pathway starting from arrival at the emergency department. The additional benefit of releasing ambulances more quickly means potentially more patients can be helped

“It will run 24-hours-a-day. On arrival at the emergency department patients will be triaged and a decision made as to where they can await admission to the department. The ambulance handover unit includes patient and staff facilities including toilets, changing rooms and medical gases to ensure it is both clinically high quality, as well as comfortable.”