• Winter pressures and the NHS Ambulance Services: ‘Doing more with less’ is not an option

    Paresh Wankhade, Professor of Leadership and Management and Emergency Services Management Expert discusses the issues the Ambulance Service faces as winter approaches in his latest Comment blog: With each passing year, the winter crisis puts a massive strain on the NHS ambulance resources with huge bottlenecks in the transfer of patients into the hospital Accident…

  • Sore throats and false nails – the ambulance call-outs that cost millions

    Keegan Clay Shepard, Edge Hill University Ambulance call-outs are increasing, resulting in services operating under enormous, and probably unsustainable, pressure. While most calls do need an emergency response, far too many don’t. A study of 300 consecutive emergency ambulance arrivals to an accident and emergency (A&E) department in London, England, found that only 54% of…

  • How to reboot Britain’s fractured emergency services

      Professor Paresh Wankhade, Edge Hill University The Grenfell Tower fire and recent terrorist attacks in Manchester and London have put the spotlight on spending cuts for emergency services. In Manchester, an independent review into the emergency response was ordered in the aftermath of the bombing to look into the “the strain of spending cuts”…

  • In the future your ambulance could be driverless

    Keegan Shepard, Edge Hill University The revolution in driverless vehicles will make many jobs obsolete. In the US alone, it is estimated that driverless vehicles will wipe out 4.1m jobs. Truck drivers, delivery drivers, taxi drivers and Uber drivers will be out of work, and sooner than you might think. But automation can be a…

  • Increasing Ambulance Demand: Need for a Strong Leadership and Positive Culture

    The growing pressure on the NHS ambulance services as a result of increased ambulance demand has been a subject of media attention in the recent weeks. This is also accompanied by a growing academic interest in the examination and exploration of work intensification in prehospital care settings. Staff retention and staff recruitment is proving to…

  • Concerns over patient safety in NHS ambulance services are growing

    Keegan Shepard, Edge Hill University Even with all the wonders that modern medicine has to offer, it is clear that patients remain at significant risk while receiving care. And no more so than when in the care of the ambulance service. Patient safety has been a principle in healthcare ever since the 1950s but has…

  • Emergency services collaboration: role and future of the ambulance services?

    Collaboration between emergency services is neither novel nor new. Many emergency services are already working with each other and other public bodies to provide better services while improving efficiencies. It was however argued that the present levels of coordination and collaboration are uneven and not as well developed as they might be. In September 2015,…