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Ambulance diversion and the regionalization of emergency medical care (e.g., stroke centers, chest pain centers) may lead to patients being transported longer distances to access emergency care. The effect of longer transport distances on seriously ill medical patients is not clear. To address this issue, researchers reviewed prehospital and hospital records for 10,315 patients with potentially life-threatening conditions who were transported by four ambulance services in England during a 5-year period.
Straight-line distances from the scene to the hospital ranged from 0 to 58 km, with a median distance of 5 km. The mortality rate was 5.8% in patients who were transported 0 to 10 km, 7.7% in those transported 11 to 20 km, 8.8% in those trans…