Ambulance Services Adopt 'Drop and Go' Policy Amid NHS Strain

Paramedics are leaving patients in A&E corridors to meet response time targets, raising safety concerns among doctors.

Ambulance services across the UK are increasingly implementing a 'drop and go' policy, leaving patients in A&E corridors after 45 minutes to respond more quickly to emergency calls.
Dr. Adrian Boyle, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, warns that this practice compromises patient safety by bypassing proper handover procedures.
The policy, initially tested in London, has reduced response times for critical emergencies but has caused tension between paramedics and hospital staff.
Doctors argue that the lack of adequate handover increases the risk of missing signs of patient deterioration, particularly in overcrowded emergency departments.
NHS England supports the policy as a means to improve ambulance availability, while acknowledging the need for safe handover practices in varied regional contexts.