Summary
ARRIVE: Ambulance paramedics Responding to urgent patient Requests In general practice for home Visits – Evaluation development
More and more people are requesting urgent care, and there are shortages of GPs to see people who request appointments, in particular when patients are unable to get to the surgery. Paramedics are working in various roles in general practice including carrying out home visits in place of GPs. Initiatives have been set up across the UK involving paramedics in primary care – in some cases the paramedics remain in the ambulance service and are ‘on loan’ to the general practice, but may still answer life-threatening 999 calls. In other places, the paramedic is employed by the practice or group of practices and is no longer available to respond to any 999 calls. There is very little evidence about what works best, or even about what is happening in different areas. We do not know whether these initiatives are safe, acceptable to patients and carers or effective for the NHS. In addition, very little is known about any wider effects on the development of skills or roles, or about the impact upon delivery of emergency services.
We aim to describe the evidence base, theoretical underpinning and current initiatives; and determine the feasibility of undertaking a definitive evaluation of PPC in order to produce generalisable evidence to inform policy and practice.
We will link with Welsh Health Boards to identify sites and stakeholders to take part in fact finding interviews. We will conduct a feasibility study with three GP practice sites: one with a directly-employed paramedic; one with a Welsh Ambulance Service-employed paramedic; and a control site.
Contact Details
Trial Manager / Lead Contact: Mark Kingston
Phone: 01792 606844
Email: m.r.kingston@swansea.ac.uk
IRAS ID: 252193;