When colleagues at Christchurch Hospital realised that
80% of people admitted with COPD arrived by ambulance, they saw an opportunity
for improvement.
They introduced the “Ambulance Diversion” initiative, and
within a month there was a huge increase of transfers to GPs. There was also a
substantial increase of patients finishing in primary care, from 19% to 42%!
Voted in the top 4 innovations presented at The Health
Roundtable’s most recent major roundtable meeting, “Improving Coordination with
Primary Care Providers”, Christchurch Hospital’s “Ambulance Diversion”
initiative demonstrated the power of improved communications.
According to their presentation at the meeting, they aimed to
increase the ability of ambulance staff to assess severity, increase alternatives
to transport to emergency and improve communications between ambulances and
community providers.Christchurch trained ambulance staff to assess COPD
patients for GP referral by producing a patient card filled out by the
patient’s GP, and a COPD severity assessment sheet provided to ambulance staff.
Christchurch and other participating hospital’s innovation
presentations are available to HRT members by clinking here.
To find out more about these and other innovations from this
meeting, please email paul.white@healthroundtable.org