Transformation of urgent and emergency care: NHS England consultation
Published on: 22nd December 2020
Patients, clinicians and the public are being invited by NHS England to give their views on a comprehensive set of indicators for urgent care.
These indicators have been developed with a number of acute NHS trusts and through consultation with an extensive group of clinical and patient representative stakeholders.
People can have their say until Friday 12 February 2021.
The proposed bundle of measures takes account of changes in the way that urgent care is delivered such as the roll-out of Same Day Emergency Care and strengthening of NHS 111.
Hospitals will be expected to see and assess patients within 15 minutes, one of 10 indicators.
Local health systems could receive a rating that reflects the whole patient journey under the bundle, developed as a result of testing those first published in the interim Report of the clinically-led review of NHS access standards.
Integrated care systems would be scored on measures including 111 performance, ambulance response times and patient handovers, timely assessments and time spent in emergency departments (EDs).
Data on individual trusts’ performance would still be published each month.
Taken together the measures, developed with clinical leaders, will improve patient flow to prevent crowding and ensure A&Es function more efficiently and effectively than the current set of standards which date back 15 years.
The coronavirus pandemic has made it more important than ever that patients get the right care, in the right place, at the right time and can socially distance while they do so.
