ArticleBMJ open2018
Exploring variation in how ambulance services address non-conveyance: a qualitative interview study.
Article in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Scoping review on alternative care options for patients calling the ambulance.BMC emergency medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Article
- Patient safety and predictors for subsequent healthcare contact after self-care referral from Swedish ambulance services: a retrospective cohort study.BMC emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Relational coordination among healthcare professionals in acute care: a mixed-methods study of tasks involving prehospital assessment units.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- An innovative care model for urgent and emergency care: A qualitative evaluation of community unscheduled care co-ordination hubs.PloS one · 2026Article
- A national perspective of ambulance clinicians' perceptions, experiences and decision-making processes when assessing older adults with a head injury: a mixed-methods study.British paramedic journal · 2024Article
- Factors influencing non-conveyance care encounters in the ambulance service, registered nurses experiences - a qualitative study.BMC nursing · 2024Article
- Paramedic Education and Training for the Management of Patients Presenting with Low-Acuity Clinical Conditions: A Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Understanding patient non-transport decision theories in the pre-hospital setting: a narrative review.International journal of emergency medicine · 2023Review
- Rethinking non-urgent EMS conveyance to ED during night-time - a pilot study in Southwest Finland.BMC emergency medicine · 2023Article
- Decision on non-conveyance of patients suspected of COVID-19 in a novel arrangement with assessment visits by paramedics at home.BMC emergency medicine · 2023Article
- A phenomenological interview study with patients being non-conveyed in the ambulance service.BMC emergency medicine · 2023Article
- Paramedic Education to Support the Use of Low-Acuity Care Pathways: A Scoping Review Protocol.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2023Article
- Suboptimal prehospital decision- making for referral to alternative levels of care - frequency, measurement, acceptance rate and room for improvement.BMC emergency medicine · 2022Review
- Article
- Exploring variation in ambulance calls and conveyance rates for adults with diabetes mellitus who contact the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service: a retrospective database analysis.British paramedic journal · 2021Article
- EMS non-conveyance: A safe practice to decrease ED crowding or a threat to patient safety?BMC emergency medicine · 2021Article
- Experience of using video support by prehospital emergency care physician in ambulance care - an interview study with prehospital emergency nurses in Sweden.BMC emergency medicine · 2021Article
- Alternatives to direct emergency department conveyance of ambulance patients: a scoping review of the evidence.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThere is considerable variation in non-conveyance rates between ambulance services in England. The aim was to explore variation in how each ambulance service addressed non-conveyance for calls ending in telephone advice and discharge at scene.
designA qualitative interview study.
settingTen large regional ambulance services covering 99% of the population in England.
participantsBetween four and seven interviewees from each ambulance service including managers, paramedics and healthcare commissioners, totalling 49 interviews.
methodsTelephone semistructured interviews.
resultsThe way interviewees in each ambulance service discussed non-conveyance within their organisation varied for three broad themes. First, ambulance service senior management appeared to set the culture around non-conveyance within an organisation, viewing it either as an opportunity or as a risky endeavour. Although motivation levels to undertake non-conveyance did not appear to be directly affected by the stability of an ambulance service in terms of continuity of leadership and externally assessed quality, this stability could affect the ability of the organisation to innovate to increase non-conveyance rates. Second, descriptions of workforce configuration differed between ambulance services, as well as how this workforce was used, trained and valued. Third, interviewees in each ambulance service described health and social care in the wider emergency and urgent care system differently in terms of availability of services that could facilitate non-conveyance, the amount of collaborative working between health and social care services and the ambulance service and complexity related to the numbers of services and healthcare commissioners with whom they had to work.
conclusionsThis study suggests that factors within and outside the control of ambulance services may contribute to variation in non-conveyance rates. These findings can be tested in a quantitative analysis of factors affecting variation in non-conveyance rates between ambulance services in England.
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Registered trials
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