The MS Department Cooperates with Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) to Analyze the Problem of Non-Emergency Ambulance Transfer Service (NEATS)

About Non-Emergency Ambulance Transfer Service (NEATS)

The non-emergency ambulance transfer service (NEATS) is provided by the Hospital Authority (HA) for the elderly and patients who need special assistances such as stretchers, wheelchairs and oxygen masks. These patients are eligible to free pick-up and delivery services on discharge, transfer, and out-patient. At present, there are 133 non-emergency ambulances serving the patients in need in HA’s seven hospital clusters.

Challenge Faced by QEH

From 2007 to 2009, there were about 370,000 people using NEATS. Evidence has shown that the demand is on the rise. However, the service standard of NEATS is low. There are often patients complaining about the waiting time of the ambulances. The waiting time is sometimes so long that some patients are late for their appointment with the doctors.

Solution Brought About by the MS Department

In 2009, QEH decided to cooperate with the Head of the Department of Management Sciences (MS), Prof. LIM Leong Chye and his research team. They seek to find out the causes of the problem and the solutions.

In fact, NEATS is mainly affected by two factors. One is whether there are enough resources available, which are mainly ambulances, drivers and caretakers. The other one is whether there is effective management of resources. It is difficult to manually analyze the problem because of the large fleet of ambulances and the high service demand. Therefore, the research team of the MS department uses optimization techniques to compute the best method to schedule the ambulances, drivers and caretakers. Moreover, the research team also uses scenario analysis to test how schedules are best made under different circumstances.

Research Result

After testing different scenarios, the team is convinced that the resources available are insufficient to cope with the mounting service demand of NEATS. Moreover, if QEH can increase the flexibility when scheduling the human resources, the service level and transportation capacity will be enhanced.