An analysis of ambulance re-contacts after non-conveyance: a retrospective cohort study in the Netherlands

Re-contact incidence after non-conveyance is relatively low, with a very small part of re-contacts related to ambulance care professionals making errors in diagnosis or treatment. Combined with low re-contact mortality, this indicates safe non-conveyance decisions. Re-contacts as quality indicator cover a variety of reasons, with almost half of the re-contacts being related to illness. Four subcategories accounted for the majority of all reasons for re-contacts: progression of disease, recurrent disease process/exacerbation, reassessment and ambulance request by another medical professional, and psychiatric disorder and/or substance abuse. Three-quarters of the patients were conveyed, although more re-contacts due to patient related reasons ended in non-conveyance again.