All the Sickly People, Where Do They All Come From? An OLD Problem (Off Load Delay) Rising Ambulance Presentations to an Irish Emergency Department

Abstract

Introduction:

Demand for prehospital emergency services has been increasing worldwide. Significant challenges exist in meeting response times in rural environments when faced with surges in demand related to weather events or sustained demand surge such as the pandemic environment. Significant pressure also exists in the hospital environment receiving such large volumes of patients with short duration handovers to allow prehospital assets return to their primary roles. The aim of this study is to determine trends for ambulance presentations in a rural emergency department over seven years with absolute numbers and percentage of overall attendances.

Method:

A retrospective analysis of anonymized electronic registration data on the iPMS system from initiation in 2014 to 2022 including total registration numbers, presentation by ambulance, and handover times. Excel is used to record and examine data.

Results:

ED attendances rose from 29,236 in 2014 to 43,184 in 2021 with total ambulance presentations ranging from 4,859 in 2014 (16.62% of attendances), maxing in 2019 at 10,326 out of total attendances of 42,637 (24.22% of attendances).Lowest monthly ambulance presentations occurred in April 2014 (441 or 15.82% of 2788 attendances) and maximal monthly presentations was 1,023 in May 2022 (23.38% of 4376 attendances). Lowest percentage of attendances arriving by ambulance occurred in May 2014 with 14.97% (468) out of 3,127 ED presentations. Highest percentage of attendances arriving by ambulance occurred in January 2021 with 33.67% (875) of 2,599 ED presentations which was during the lockdown phase of COVID in Ireland.

Conclusion:

Overall total numbers of patients arriving by ambulance has been steadily increasing for years but numbers (and percentages) dramatically increased during COVID and this has been sustained in the POST Lockdown pandemic phase. Strategies are required to manage demand, increase turnaround and educate the public on appropriate use of prehospital emergency services.