Click the headline or link below to read the rest of this story.
Solihull NHS Primary Care Trust (PCT) said moves to send appropriate patients to a walk-in centre instead of A&E were safe.
It spoke out after The Silhillian yesterday reported a young adult taken to a Birmingham walk-in centre with flu like symptoms later died from swine flu.
This led to concerns amongst Solihull paramedics about the safety of taking patients to walk-in centres, meaning more were taken to A&E.
A statement said: “The decision to take a patient to a walk-in centre or A&E department is made solely on a clinical basis by the paramedic in attendance.
“There is no requirement or suggestion that a decision should be made on the basis of cost.
“Ambulance personnel take patients to the facility that best meets their health and care needs and where the most appropriate care and treatment can be given.”
They said a doctor was always at the walk-in centre and would send patients to nearby A&E where needed.
Walk-in centre patients were seen quicker than in A&E it said. “It has proved very popular with people who wish to see a doctor or nurse urgently.”
The Solihull project to send fewer people to A&E saved £186,238 in the 12 months from April 2010.
The authority spoke out following an inaccurate report in yesterday’s Birmingham Mail and Birmingham Post.
This said the swine flu victim was from Solihull and the death was a result of the cuts.
In fact, the death was in Birmingham, which is managed by another health authority.
Reports of the death instead influenced Solihull paramedics’ choices about where to take patients, Solihull PCT said. These concerns had now been resolved, it said.
It said: “It is believed that the reduction in the number of patients being diverted to the Solihull Walk-in and Healthcare Centre was the result of local ambulance personnel exercising extra caution when deciding where to take a patient following the incident reported in the newspapers and during the course of an investigation.”
“Solihull Primary Care Trust worked actively with the local ambulance personnel to confirm that the local arrangements were acceptable to ambulance staff and that they had no concerns in deciding the most appropriate care once they had made a clinical assessment.
“Ambulance personnel now again routinely take clinically appropriate patients to the Solihull Walk-in and Healthcare Centre.”
What do you think? Leave your comments below. No registration required. Posts must abide by the terms and conditions. Report comments at news@thesilhillian.co.uk.
Click here to get stories by email.
