Ambulance trusts have taken on the cost of a “vital” national IT system which stops services being overwhelmed by calls, after its funding was cut by NHS England, HSJ reports.
The Intelligent Routing Platform was due to be decommissioned after NHS England said it would no longer fund it past this summer. However, ambulance services have decided to fund the cost themselves.
The system – which is delivered under a contract with Wavenet — was introduced in November 2022 when emergency calls reached record levels after the pandemic. The platform collects real time information from the ambulance services telephony platforms, using it to inform routing decisions.
If a patient’s local ambulance service is struggling to answer calls quickly, their call may be answered by a different ambulance trust which is under less pressure.
Anna Parry, managing director of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, said: “Following contractual changes introduced by NHSE earlier this year, ambulance services collaborated swiftly to secure a sustainable solution, resulting in the sector now directly funding the IRP.
“The IRP remains a vital component of ambulance service resilience, particularly during periods of exceptional demand and surges in 999 call volumes across NHS ambulance trusts.”
Date: 29 August