WHAT DOES THIS STUDY AIM TO FIND OUT?
This study will look at what happens to people who call an ambulance because of chest pain in the West Midlands. We want to understand how they are assessed, how quickly they receive care and what happens afterwards. This includes people who travel to hospital by ambulance and those who make their own way there. We will also look at whether the way chest pain calls are prioritised affects patient safety and how well ambulance services work.
WHY IS THIS RESEARCH NEEDED?
Chest pain is a common reason for seeking urgent medical help. It accounts for more than one million hospital visits each year in the UK. Chest pain can be a sign of a heart attack, but many people have other causes for their symptoms. It is important that people are assessed quickly and receive the right care.
In 2017, NHS England changed the way ambulance calls are prioritised. Chest pain calls were placed in Category 2. This means they are treated as serious emergencies that need a rapid response. Since then, demand for ambulance services has increased. We want to understand whether these arrangements provide safe and timely care for people with chest pain.
We will look at whether changes to ambulance call priorities have affected what happens to patients. This includes any delays in diagnosing heart attacks, changes in whether people attend hospital and other possible effects on patient safety.
WHAT WILL THE RESEARCH INVOLVE?
We will bring together information from the West Midlands Ambulance Service and three emergency departments at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. This will help us follow what happens to patients from their emergency call through to any hospital visit, hospital stay or treatment.
We will look at:
- How people with chest pain get emergency care.
- What happens to people after they call 999 with chest pain.
- Whether they attend hospital within a few days of their call.
- How many need to stay in hospital and for how long.
- What conditions are diagnosed during their hospital visit or stay.
- Whether any patients die within 30 days of their emergency call.
- Whether the current way of responding to chest pain calls provides safe and timely care.
Bringing ambulance and hospital information together will give us a clearer picture of the care people receive. It will help us identify where care could be improved.
HOW ARE PATIENTS AND THE PUBLIC INVOLVED?
Patients and members of the public helped shape this study from the start. People who had received emergency care for chest pain were asked for their views when the study was being planned. They strongly supported the research. Their experiences helped us choose the questions to explore and focus on what matters most to patients.
We have also worked with patient representatives from earlier national chest pain studies. We plan to keep working with patient groups through the West Midlands Applied Research Collaboration and the Birmingham Patient Safety Research Collaborative. Patients and members of the public will continue to advise us throughout the study to help keep it focused on patients’ needs.
WHO HAS SUPPORTED THE STUDY?
All members of the PIONEER Data Trust Committee supported this study.
The study is led by Dr Suzy Gallier, Technical Director of PIONEER and Head of Healthcare Data Research Programmes at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.
