Sectors – Ambulance

Ambulance: What we do

ORH offers a unique service designed to help answer strategic and tactical ambulance service planning questions by identifying and appraising feasible options for change using analytical and modelling techniques based on proven Operational Research (OR) methods.

ORH’s portfolio of experience embraces emergency and non-emergency ambulance service provision, across both operations and control; it also embraces aeromedical services for Fixed Wing and Rotary Wing.

ORH’s area of expertise encompasses a wide range of ambulance service issues including: supporting the development of an estate strategy, optimising the use and deployment of operational resources across the different skill levels and roles, improving control practices, investigating options for enhanced triaging, building up appropriate dynamic cover plans and minimising the impact of any planned budget reductions on service delivery.

The impact of different resource/demand matching strategies can be assessed in relation to timeliness targets for emergency cover or non-emergency provision. The degree of tiering between these services can also be appraised where this is an issue (eg, in more rural services). The balance between different resource types (eg, ALS and BLS, first responders and transporting ambulances) can be assessed using simulation modelling techniques to give confidence before implementing operational changes.

For strategic planning, projections of the ambulance demand profile can be input into ORH’s optimisation model to inform forward planning for facilities, vehicles and staff. This modelling can reflect aims to improve the equity and effectiveness of response as efficiently as possible, taking account of recurrent and capital expenditure.

Ambulance: Key Areas

Improved response
Location strategy
Paramedic deployments
Hospital access
Control priorities
Aeromedical services
Efficiency measures
Dynamic cover

Ambulance: Example Questions

ORH can help you answer key questions. For example:

What is the optimal deployment of operational resources by skill type?
How can response targets for the different call categories be most efficiently met?
What is the impact of changing hospital service configurations?
Could a ‘hub and spoke’ station configuration be designed to meet the projected future demand profile?
What is the impact of changing systems for prioritising calls, both in Control and ‘on the road’?
What are the resource implications of increased control triaging and/or increased operational assessment (‘hear and treat’ and ‘see and treat’)
How can we improve non-emergency service standards cost-effectively?
Can the balance between aeromedical and land ambulance resources be changed to give a more cost-effective service overall?

Ambulance: How we do it

ORH uses sophisticated Operational Research (OR) techniques for data analysis and modelling.

ORH’s experienced consultants have developed a good understanding of the operational characteristics of different types of ambulance service across the world, ranging from metropolitan services through to rural services.

ORH’s methodology is based on two computer models that have been developed over the last two decades and are used by our trained consultants:

An optimisation model: identifies and evaluates optimum resource deployments and station locations.
A simulation model: used to answer a wide-range of ‘what if’ questions by evaluating the impact of options for change on response times and resource utilisation.

Ambulance: Why ORH?

ORH has 25 years experience working with over 100 emergency service organisations in the UK and other countries amounting to around 500 separate projects.

An ORH ambulance study can deliver significant benefits: