Reducing ambulance handover delays: key lines of enquiry
An improvement guide setting out key lines of enquiry (KLOEs) for acute organisations to use to review their ambulance handover process, and to identify key improvement opportunities.
Contents
Reducing hospital handover delays
The NHS Long Term Plan sets out a vision to eliminate ambulance handover delays. Ambulance handover delays are risky because they delay assessment and treatment for those waiting in an ambulance queue at hospitals.
Such delays also compromise safety in our community by reducing the availability of ambulances to respond to emergencies.
See Matthew’s Story for more on the compelling case to continue to reduce hospital handover delays.
Key lines of enquiry
These KLOEs have been developed by the Emergency Care Improvement Support Team (ECIST). They are a self-assessment tool for ambulance and acute trusts looking to identify key opportunities to reduce ambulance handover delays, and to improve flow across the ambulance-hospital interface.
Support for use of the KLOEs is available from your regional ECIST ambulance advisor.
Further resources
Interactive resources
Improvement resources
- Ambulance handover: tactical guidance to hospitals and ambulance services
- Principles of ambulance flow
- Rapid improvement guide to system challenge events
- Fit2Sit guidance
- Are your patients Fit2Sit?
- Rapid improvement guide: frailty at the front door
- Hospital ambulance liaison officer (HALO) guidance
- ECIST Ambulance Team improvement support offer
Videos and webinars
Related content
- Safer, faster, better webinar series
- Safer, faster, better: good practice in delivering urgent and emergency care
- Good practice guide: focus on improving patient flow
Find out more
For the latest improvement related to the Good practice guide: focus on improving patient flow, you can follow ECIST on twitter, Facebook and YouTube.