How emergency services utilise Consultant Connect across the UK

SAS uses Consultant Connect to obtain rapid prof-to-prof telephone advice within four health boards: Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Tayside, Lanarkshire, and Forth Valley. First launched in Tayside in 2019, today, 44 lines are available across the four health boards, with more than 128,000 calls placed by SAS. The service sees around 2,000 calls placed per month, answered within 11 seconds on average, resulting in 55% of patients avoiding an unnecessary hospital conveyance.

One line available to SAS is the ‘call before convey’ pathway in Lanarkshire, allowing clinicians to contact ED colleagues in the Flow Navigation Centre directly. Calls are either connected to an ED consultant or an advanced paramedic practitioner. The initiative enables clinicians to discuss patients with non-life-threatening conditions rapidly, deciding on the best clinical destination, often bypassing ED.

‘I use it all the time, especially at night; because we’re lone workers, it’s a valuable link to access another level of decision-making. It’s great that we can contact our emergency medicine colleagues in this way to support our decisions and access patient notes. It’s like having the specialist sat next to you, and they have access to other information you might not.’

– Sharleen Johnston, Advanced Nurse Practitioner.

Launched in 2020, Consultant Connect is available to all NHS clinicians across Wales, making WAST the first ambulance organisation to have access to the service countrywide. Across all seven health boards, WAST clinicians have access to rapid telephone advice from up to 130 specialties (depending on their locality), with calls being answered within eight seconds and clinicians placing 4,500 calls each month on average. This results in 35% of patients avoiding an unnecessary hospital visit.

‘I used [Consultant Connect] on my last shift just a couple of days ago, and to be able to press a button to receive immediate help from a number of specialists is fantastic. Whether it’s a trauma specialist, midwife, paediatrician, the service is amazing. I definitely wouldn’t have returned to clinical work if WAST didn’t have access to it.’

– Chris Ferris, Paramedic for WAST.

As well as rapid telephone advice, WAST clinicians also have access to Bypass Numbers for same-day emergency communications, allowing users to skip the queue on switchboard and speak directly to staff at local GP practices:

‘The Bypass Numbers are especially helpful when attending to patients with complex medical histories because, quite often, the GP will be aware of or medicating the condition, so it’s good to discuss with them to find out if the patient’s current presentation represents an acute change. Without the GP’s input, many patient conditions seem alarming on the face of it, but someone’s baseline might be alarming, so there’s no benefit for them to conveyed to hospital, because everything is already known and being managed.’

– Joseph Wilday, Trainee Advanced Paramedic Practitioner for WAST.

The project has enabled SCAS clinicians to utilise Consultant Connect as a pre-programmed service directory to communicate with NHS colleagues across the Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire areas since 2019. The service routes 500 calls per month within 35 seconds on average, enabling 52% of patients to be treated outside of hospital.

‘The success of the project has been so apparent that the acute trust is now looking to implement Consultant Connect services to support and develop a single point of access that would operate 12 hours a day, seven days a week.’

– Joe Matthews, Senior Urgent and Emergency Care Lead, NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West (BOB ICB).