A health minister has defended a “drop and go” system for ambulances transporting patients to hospital in London as “working very well” despite warnings of risks.
Care minister Stephen Kinnock stressed trusts in other parts of the country should seek to learn from best practice in other areas.
Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of the London Ambulance Service, has stressed that the scheme, under which patients are reportedly left in hospitals after 45 minutes of getting there was allowing his crews to get back on the road to respond to 999 calls and deliver life-saving care around the capital.
But Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, criticised the system if there had not been a proper “hand over” to staff in hospitals.
As the Government was seeking public views on its ten-year NHS plan, Mr Kinnock was asked about the London ambulance “drop and go” policy.
“It’s, of course, up to every NHS Trust to do what works for them at the point of delivery,” he told Times Radio.
“The experience that you mention in London does seem to have worked very well in that context in that setting.
“That doesn’t mean it’s going to work in every context.”.
However, he added: “But one of the big principles for us is we want to take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS.
“We’re seeing great examples of work across different parts of the country, pockets of good practice and where there are opportunities to spread that good practice that’s what we want to do.”
Mr Elkeles has highlighted the benefits of the system.
He said that before introducing it, the London Ambulance Service was “regularly losing up to 600 hours of time waiting to hand over patient care at hospitals every day”.
He emphasised: “That is approximately 15 per cent of our ambulances out of action for the whole day. The risks to patients waiting extended periods of time at home for an ambulance are well known. A fundamental element of the care we provide is ensuring we can get to people who need us quickly.”
But Dr Boyle was more sceptical.
He told BBC radio: “We completely get the importance of being able to return ambulances to the frontline as quickly as possible.
“The problem here is our departments are often so busy and so full that what is happening is people are being abandoned in corridors.
“We have got to think about the whole system risk.
“Just fixing one little bit by putting pressure onto another isn’t the right way to try to fix this.
“If you put a lot of stress into an emergency department...you are creating..an area where there is an awful lot of risk.”
The Government launched a major consultation on the future of the NHS on Monday, promising to put patients and staff at the heart of its 10-year health plan.
Billed as “the biggest national conversation about the future of the NHS since its birth”, members of the public will be able to share their views online via change.NHS.uk until the start of next year.
The consultation is part of the Government’s plans to transform the NHS into a “neighbourhood health service”, shifting more care from hospitals to communities.
The plan, expected to be published in spring 2025, will also see greater use of data and technology, with easier sharing of patient data, saving an estimated 140,000 hours of staff time every year, as well as possible extension of schemes such as weight-loss jobs.
As another example, the plan will “explore the opportunities smart watches and other wearable tech may offer patients with diabetes or high blood pressure, so they can monitor their own health from the comfort of their own home”, according to the Department of Health.
Mr Kinnock said there would be extra funding for the NHS in the Budget but insisted it had to reform, amid warnings that productivity had fallen in recent years despite extra cash.
Putting more money into the NHS without reform would be “like turning on the taps without fixing the plumbing”, he added.
