Review launched into ‘inaccurate’ ambulance data

The Cleric computer aided despatch system went live at London Ambulance Service Trust in late September but quickly started showing response times for category 1 patients – which include those thought to be in cardiac or respiratory arrest – in excess of historical levels.

Initially, this was attributed to staff being unfamiliar with the new system but further analysis has suggested the issue was with the way response times were calculated under the old computer system.

The trust has indicated that “changes” made to the legacy system may have led to inaccurate performance being recorded – especially around category 1 calls, which have a target response time of seven minutes. This was reported to NHS England and the trust’s commissioners once the trust realised there may have been a problem.

The trust had used the CommandPoint CAD system, made by US defence giant Northrop Grumman, since 2012. It is likely the changes made affected the “clock start” – when the response time is measured from – but were not implemented with the intention of improving the trust’s apparent performance.

The review is expected to report in January and will be carried out by Verita. It will cover historical and current governance processes, decision making, performance times and the accuracy of current systems for counting and reporting.

LAS chief executive Daniel Elkeles said: “As an open and honest organisation with a commitment to great patient care, we clearly have to take action to make sure we are recording data properly, as well as doing everything we can to reduce our response times.

“It is imperative that our patients and the communities we serve can see a full and accurate picture of performance. To do this as quickly, fairly and transparently as possible, we have commissioned an independent review, in partnership with NHSE and our commissioners.”

LAS has traditionally been a good performer on catergory 1 performance and, as it accounts for about a seventh of the category 1 calls nationally, its performance has helped to keep down the national average. In May this year, for example, it was the only trust to meet the seven minute target while the national average was 8m 36s.

The trust’s response times were excluded from the national data for October and the latter part of September, and it will not report them for this month. It hopes to return to reporting independently verified response times normally at that point.

The review will be overseen by a board made up of the NHSE London team, North West London Integrated Care System – which is the lead commissioner for ambulance services in London – independent clinical advisers and the trust. It will be chaired by the regional medical director for London Chris Streather.