News and Notices

Southern Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Committee has recommended that the East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) continues to operate according to the same protocols as NSL for an initial 6-month period, compiling auditable data to assess and quantify the impact of enforcing Eligibility Criteria (EC).

1. All new patients will be assessed under the EMPACT/Derbyshire EC but not be refused service if they do not meet EC during the 6 month audit (a necessity if the audit is to provide the exact impact)
2. All recurrent patients will be reassessed at 3 month intervals (in accordance with healthcare practices) and included in the audit sample (impact group above) but as with new patients will not be refused service if they subsequently become not eligible at their review periods).

If the parties are to assess the true impact over this 6 month audit period, then both these patient groups need to be captured. The second group (recurrent patients) will also provide hard data about stakeholders application of the EC policy and/or abuse of the policy which is also a factor for consideration. The purpose of this six month audit is to assist both Commissioner and Provider to identify how many patients are affected by the EC and mitigate associated risks. Once the audit is complete and the data validated and reviewed Commissioners and EMAS will collaborate to decide the best path forward for patients and providers.

If you have any further questions, please contact Patrick Murphy on 07766 423077 or patrick.murphy2@nhs.net