Unscheduled Care Coordination Hubs (UCCHs) provide timely care in the community for patients dialling 999 with urgent illnesses. Ambulance services can access these hubs instead of taking a patient to hospital, allowing care in or close to the patients’ home, as well as freeing up scarce ambulance time.
A partnership between ARC YH and YH AHSN looked at the early impact and success of three pilot UCCH sites in England. The evaluation found pilot UCCHs are providing timely access to community services for patients with urgent needs, leading to better experience for patients and services. Implementation should be at the ICS level for scalability, involving all stakeholders especially ambulance services. The UCCH pilot model is being expanded in more sites and further evaluation of their impact on ambulance wait times and hospital attendances is needed to assess impact on a national level.
