UK ambulance doctors offered 'drop and go' scheme
In the UK, ambulances are increasingly dropping patients off in emergency department corridors without proper handover.
Ambulance crews leave patients in the hospital without hospitalization in order to quickly respond to other calls.
Dr Adrian Boyle, a senior UK emergency physician, warned that the actions of ambulance services were putting vulnerable patients at risk, The Telegraph reports.
The UK's National Health Service has recommended that emergency medical staff implement a "drop and go" approach to their work.
This practice is intended to reduce the time it takes to respond to calls from at-risk patients.
The work plan provides that ambulance doctors do not have to wait for the patient to be hospitalized in clinics and leave for a new call within 45 minutes.
It is considered safer to leave a patient in the hospital corridors than to risk delays in response to calls.
The hospitalization process does not exceed 15 minutes, but the wait in line lasts for hours.
Doctors estimate that up to 600 hours a day were spent in London waiting to hand over patients to doctors.
The "drop and go" practice allows more time to be spent on calls and patient care.
