Written question WQ100466

Ambulance handover improvement and the reduction of corridor care are complementary objectives. It would not be acceptable to improve handover performance by transferring delays elsewhere in the patient pathway or by increasing the use of unsuitable care environments.

The NHS Wales Ambulance Patient Handover Guidance states that ambulance patient handovers should normally be completed within 15 minutes and always within 45 minutes. The guidance also makes clear that ambulance patient handover is a whole-system responsibility and that sustained improvement depends on addressing the causes of delay throughout the patient pathway, rather than transferring risk from one part of the system to another.

Health boards are therefore expected to deliver improvements in ambulance handovers alongside action to improve patient flow, timely assessment, treatment and discharge.

We will continue to work with NHS Wales Performance and Improvement to monitor a range of operational, quality and safety indicators, including ambulance handover performance, time spent in emergency departments, patient safety incidents, timeliness of safe discharge and overall flow through acute hospitals and out into the community. Health boards are expected to identify and mitigate any unintended consequences arising from improvement actions, including any evidence that delays are being displaced into inappropriate care environments.

In addition, an NHS Wales Corridor Care Action Group has been established to advise on a consistent national approach to the definition, identification, measurement and reporting of corridor care.

As part of this work, the Group is considering how future reporting arrangements will provide greater transparency regarding the number of people affected, the time spent in inappropriate care environments, associated patient safety concerns, and the wider system factors that contribute to such situations.