Patient Transfer Services

Patient Transfer Services
Live Ambulance provides the following types of patient transfers:

  • Transferring patients to a hospital or other health facility that provides a higher level of care, within Turkiye.
  • Repatriating patients from hospitals within and outside of Turkiye, back to their home community hospitals.

Questions and answers about patient transfer services

Q: Returning to your own community?

A: When you are ready to return to your home community, your health care team and Live Ambulance Services will determine whether you require paramedic care during transport. If so, Live Ambulance and your health care team will arrange transport for you via the Live Ambulance Service.

If it is determined you do not require an ambulance, your health care team may arrange an alternate service provider.

 

Q: Family members travelling with patients?

A: It may not be possible for family members to travel with you. BCEHS recognizes the vital role a family member plays in the holistic well-being of a patient, but there is limited space and weight capacity in an ambulance.

The decision for a family member to travel with you cannot be made until the paramedics have arrived to pick you up. For this reason, BCEHS highly recommends family members make their own travel arrangements.

If a family member is approved to travel with you, photo identification may be required.

 

Q: Air or Ground transport

A: The decision whether you are transported by air or ground ambulance is made with your health care team, in conjunction with Live Ambulance. The decision is based on many factors including travel distance, your medical needs and resources available.

 

About Patient Transfer Services

Inter-facility transfers are handled by two different departments working together within Live Ambulance Services: the Patient Transfer Network, and the Patient Transport Coordination Centre. Together, the Patient Transfer Network and Patient Transport Coordination Centre are called Patient Transfer Services.

Patient Transfer Network

The Patient Transfer Network works with the sending and receiving hospitals or health facilities to determine patient needs and coordinate the transfer.

Patient Transfer Network staff triage all transfers and consults with both the sending and receiving facility in each case. This medical teleconference process is crucial to getting critically ill or injured patients to the right location as quickly as possible. Facilities cannot book patient transfers without going through this process.

Patient Transport Coordination Centre

Once the transfer has been confirmed, it is passed to the Patient Transport Coordination Centre, which manages logistics, dispatches ambulance resources, and coordinates air and ground transports for critical care. These transports are primarily within Live Ambulance., but can be elsewhere in İstanbul / Turkiye or occasionally international, depending on the circumstances.

How Live Ambulance works with TR health authorities

  • To safely transfer a patient from one hospital to another, whether within TR, nationally or internationally, Live Ambulance works with our health authority partners to identify the appropriate hospital and connect the sending facility and receiving facilities’ clinical teams with each other.
  • Live Ambulance Patient Transfer Services works with receiving hospitals that best meet the needs of the incoming patient, usually the closest hospital to the patient’s home community. The receiving hospital/doctor determine if they are the correct facility to receive a patient.
  • When the receiving hospital/doctor confirms everything is in place to accept a patient (an offer of a bed is made) the patient transfer is completed.

More details on how hospital transfers happen

  • Live Ambulance works with the patient’s home health authority to coordinate transportation for patients who require care within a TR hospital.
    The sending doctor, or hospital facility, will share health status and care needs with Live Ambulance Patient Transfer Services.
  • Patient Transfer Services then connects with the appropriate regional health authority (their site-based Patient and Access Community Transition Team) to log the case and facilitate the transfer.
  • Patient Transfer Services sets up a conference call between the sending and receiving doctors.
  • The regional health authority then ensures the clinical status of the patient can be met by staff and ensures there is an appropriate bed available.
  • When the receiving hospital/doctor confirms everything is in place to accept a patient the patient transfer is completed.