The NHS oil tanker: heading towards a new horizon for urgent and emergency care

Pressure on NHS services is nothing new, and we all know it is unlikely to ever end. Demand on NHS ambulance 999 services alone has increased by around 25% over the past 5 years and it is widely recognised that the whole system is unsustainable in its current form. It is time for the NHS oil tanker to turn and head towards a new horizon.

NHS ambulance Trusts, and paramedics in particular, have a key role to play in NHS England's Five Year Forward View announced by Dr Simon Stevens at the end of last year (NHS England et al, 2014), and the transformation of urgent and emergency care (UEC) services instigated by the Keogh Review in 2013 (NHS England, 2013). Both share a common aim: to alleviate current pressures and provide patients with even better care within a more sustainable NHS system.