Ambulance became a taxi - there was no need for care

In June, an ambulance was called to Vallby in Västerås to pick up a patient who had visited a health center.

Communication difficulties arose when the ambulance arrived, because the patient did not speak Swedish. A relative of the patient wanted the ambulance to drive the patient to Västerås Hospital's X-ray department. But the ambulance staff questioned why they were called there because there was no obvious need for care.

To find out why they were called to the scene, the medical staff contacted both the health center that the patient had just visited and the X-ray department where they wanted to be taken.

During the interviews, it emerged that the patient had received a referral to the emergency X-ray to examine a possible blood clot in the leg.

The ambulance then drove the patient to the emergency X-ray so that he would have time for the appointed time, but during the transport there was no need for medical care but the emergency vehicle acted as transport. "Pure taxi transport", is stated in the deviation report.

The incident has therefore been reported to the region, with the aim of improving so that it does not happen again.