TABLE 3, [The final set of measures that could be developed as potential performance or quality indicators]. - Developing new ways of measuring the quality and impact of ambulance service care: the PhOEBE mixed-methods research programme

Measure description	Aim
Change in pain score (mean/median)	To calculate the change in pain score for patients who received an ambulance response and had more than one pain score recorded
Accuracy and appropriateness of call ID	To identify the proportion of patients with serious emergency conditions whose condition is appropriately categorised by the ambulance service
Response time	To calculate a range of mean and percentile ambulance response times to explore alternative ways of displaying performance for an ambulance service
Proportion of decisions to leave a patient at scene (‘hear and treat’ and ‘see and treat’) that resulted in re-contacts and/or death (within 3 days)	To identify the frequency of potentially inappropriate non-conveyance decisions
Proportion of ambulance patients with a serious emergency condition who survive to admission, and to 7 days post admission	To identify the proportion of people with a serious emergency condition who survive to admission (within 7 days of ambulance contact) and, of those, the proportion who survive to 7 days post admission
Proportion of patients transported to ED by 999 emergency ambulance who were discharged to usual place of residence or care of GP, without treatment or investigation(s) that needed hospital facilities	To identify the frequency of potentially inappropriate conveyance decisions

Measure description

Aim

Change in pain score (mean/median)

To calculate the change in pain score for patients who received an ambulance response and had more than one pain score recorded

Accuracy and appropriateness of call ID

To identify the proportion of patients with serious emergency conditions whose condition is appropriately categorised by the ambulance service

Response time

To calculate a range of mean and percentile ambulance response times to explore alternative ways of displaying performance for an ambulance service

Proportion of decisions to leave a patient at scene (‘hear and treat’ and ‘see and treat’) that resulted in re-contacts and/or death (within 3 days)

To identify the frequency of potentially inappropriate non-conveyance decisions

Proportion of ambulance patients with a serious emergency condition who survive to admission, and to 7 days post admission

To identify the proportion of people with a serious emergency condition who survive to admission (within 7 days of ambulance contact) and, of those, the proportion who survive to 7 days post admission

Proportion of patients transported to ED by 999 emergency ambulance who were discharged to usual place of residence or care of GP, without treatment or investigation(s) that needed hospital facilities

To identify the frequency of potentially inappropriate conveyance decisions

From: Identifying potential measures to assess ambulance service performance and quality of care

Developing new ways of measuring the quality and impact of ambulance service care: the PhOEBE mixed-methods research programme.

Programme Grants for Applied Research, No. 7.3.

Turner J, Siriwardena AN, Coster J, et al.

Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2019 Apr.

Copyright © Queen’s Printer and Controller of HMSO 2019. This work was produced by Turner et al. under the terms of a commissioning contract issued by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. This issue may be freely reproduced for the purposes of private research and study and extracts (or indeed, the full report) may be included in professional journals provided that suitable acknowledgement is made and the reproduction is not associated with any form of advertising. Applications for commercial reproduction should be addressed to: NIHR Journals Library, National Institute for Health Research, Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre, Alpha House, University of Southampton Science Park, Southampton SO16 7NS, UK.

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