SAS' Integrated Clinical Hub continues to save 1000s of ambulance journeys

Over 23,000 ambulance journeys have been avoided in the past five months thanks to the Scottish Ambulance Service’s Integrated Clinical Hub (ICH).

The ICH, launched in December 2022, is co-located with the SAS ambulance control centres in the west, north and east of Scotland and is made up of a multidisciplinary team of clinical advisors, advanced practitioners and GPs.

It provides assessments for all patients who are initially triaged as non-immediately life threatening and may benefit from a further virtual consultation and referral to other services in the community, rather than unnecessary trips to A&E.

Latest data shows that around 71,000 patients have been assessed by the ICH since August 2023.

Michael Dickson, Chief Executive of Scottish Ambulance Service said: “For those patients that require an ambulance, such as immediately life-threatening conditions, we will always dispatch the most appropriate resource. However, our data shows that nearly 50% of our patients don’t require transfer to A&E and can be better treated in other ways, such as in the home, in the community or through specialist services.

"The ICH plays a vital part in carrying out advanced assessment of these patients to identify their clinical needs to ensure they receive the best possible response for their condition.

“The hub is a vital tool in helping us free up vital capacity to attend our sickest patients whilst also reducing the demand at the A&E front door by utilising regional and national pathway alternatives.

“To help our staff we also would like to remind people that if you need urgent care, but it’s not life-threatening, you can call NHS 24 on 111, day or night, or your GP during opening hours.”