collecting data allowed the centre to store a record of all
transfers and produce a weekly activity report.
Five studies addressed the nature of personnel used to
accompany patients during transportation. The use of
inadequate or inappropriate escorts was reported in two
studies. An audit conducted by Deane et al. [33] in an
Australian hospital to examine the appropriateness of transfers
found that 15 of 47 (32%) patient transfers ought to
have been accompanied by a staff member who was more
appropriately qualified to ensure the safety of the patient.
The study of Crandon et al. in an attempt to evaluate the
inter-hospital transfer process in Jamaica reported that 89%
of patients did not have an accompanying doctor during
their transfer due to the unavailability of suitably qualified
medical staff, and the majority of transfers were arranged by
junior medical staff (94%), contrary to international guidelines
[35]. In contrast, the majority of survey respondents in
the study by Antwi et al. [31] of UK mental health patient
transfers reported the use of appropriate personnel