More than 48,000 patients have avoided unnecessary trips to A&E across the UK since June 2024, thanks to ‘talk before you walk’ tech from Consultant Connect.
This tech enables paramedics in England, Scotland and Wales to quickly call clinicians and secondary care teams for rapid advice. On average, calls are connected in 11 seconds and answered the first time in 89% of cases. This is a significant improvement for paramedics who previously would have sent a patient to A&E if they were unsure of the next steps.
Nearly half of the calls (49%) facilitated through Consultant Connect led to patients avoiding unnecessary trips to A&E thanks to the advice given by specialists. Of the patients who avoided A&E, over 34,000 were treated outside of hospital altogether.
Over 13,000 patients were also signposted to a different clinic or given urgent care on the same day without the need for an overnight stay. This freed up beds, took pressure off A&E and resulted in quicker patient care.
In NHS England and NHS Wales, this led to over 38,000 patients avoiding unnecessary A&E trips, which saved over £5m based on King’s Fund estimates.
This comes at an important time, with NHS England announcing its target for Trusts to meet the maximum 45-minute ambulance handover time standard, with ambulance crews currently losing over 1.6 million hours a year waiting to hand patients over. ‘Call before convey’ looks set to play a big role in keeping paramedics out on the road and helping Trusts achieve this target.
This tech was particularly impactful in Scotland, which has an even shorter ambulance handover time target of 15 minutes and continues to see significant delays for ambulances at hospital sites across the country. In the last 12 months, SAS paramedics used the app to make over 22,500 calls to consultants. Calls were answered in 12 seconds on average, and 9,600 patients avoided unnecessary admissions to A&E as a result.
Danni Pagliarulo, SAS paramedic and Clinical Effectiveness Lead for Pathways (East Scotland), said: “Consultant Connect enables our frontline clinicians to access a range of pathways and clinical support, helping them to make timely, informed clinical decisions. This ultimately enhances patient care by ensuring the patients receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.”
Kat James, Managing Director, Consultant Connect, said: “Ironically, the word ‘paramedic’ literally means ‘alongside a doctor’, yet when on the scene they are on their own and have to make decisions themselves. Giving paramedics immediate access to a hospital clinician through Consultant Connect means they don’t have to do it all on their own. This not only takes pressure off paramedics, but the stats show that it means tens of thousands of patients get better and faster care outside of hospital. It’s fantastic that all of Wales, as well as large parts of Scotland and England, are working with Consultant Connect, and we hope that more NHS Trusts can see the results this tech can generate.”
