A widely held perception of accident and emergency departments, often referred to as the emergency department (ED), is that they are places of long waits, patients queuing in corridors, and stressed and overworked staff. The media certainly has a hand in helping to propagate this view with attention being focussed on those trusts that are missing the four hour waiting time target.
It would be hard to argue that there isn’t too much variation across the country. Staffing has become an issue, with many trusts facing seasonal fluctuations, hard-to-fill nursing vacancies and increasing spend on agency staff.
However, there are many examples of trusts coming to terms with these challenges and we wanted to help these trusts share what they are doing in the hope that others might learn from them. Our latest What makes a top hospital? report which will be published at www.chks.co.uk on 9th September looks at how these trusts are improving patient and staff experience, it highlights the importance of good patient flow as well as working with primary care providers and those in the community. The report also focusses on leadership, team ethos and board support which are factors many successful EDs have tackled head on.
Three in-depth case studies are featured from Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust and Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. These trusts were shortlisted in CHKS excellence in accident and emergency care award which Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust went on to win.
The shortlist was compiled following an analysis of publicly-available data divided into domains for outcomes and patient experience. Outcomes included Department of Health indicators for A&E departments (e.g. waiting times for treatment and patients leaving without treatment) as well as results from clinical audits of sepsis and trauma. Patient experience included results of the Care Quality Commission patient experience survey (for A&E departments) and the NHS Friends and Family Test.
A focus on short-stay wards, speedy discharge and care of frail elderly patients, as well as better links with community providers, are just some of the ways in which the best-performing EDs are beginning to improve patient flow. With staff retention in mind, others are allowing senior clinicians time away from the frontline to develop clinical practice, or to mentor others.
There is of course no one-size-fits-all approach which is one reason why we developed our A&E Pathway Analyser. This is an analytics and reporting module designed to help emergency departments better understand demand from and treatment pathways to improve the care process and resource planning. You can find out more about A&E Pathway Analyser here, but do please get in touch with me if you would one of our consultants to talk you through it, or would like to comment on the report.
Jason Harries, managing director, CHKSA widely held perception of accident and emergency departments, often referred to as the emergency department (ED), is that they are places of long waits, patients queuing in corridors, and stressed and overworked staff. The media certainly has a hand in helping to propagate this view with attention being focussed on those trusts that are missing the four hour waiting time target.
It would be hard to argue that there isn’t too much variation across the country. Staffing has become an issue, with many trusts facing seasonal fluctuations, hard-to-fill nursing vacancies and increasing spend on agency staff.
However, there are many examples of trusts coming to terms with these challenges and we wanted to help these trusts share what they are doing in the hope that others might learn from them. Our latest What makes a top hospital? report which will be published at www.chks.co.uk on 9th September looks at how these trusts are improving patient and staff experience, it highlights the importance of good patient flow as well as working with primary care providers and those in the community. The report also focusses on leadership, team ethos and board support which are factors many successful EDs have tackled head on.
Three in-depth case studies are featured from Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust and Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. These trusts were shortlisted in CHKS excellence in accident and emergency care award which Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust went on to win.
The shortlist was compiled following an analysis of publicly-available data divided into domains for outcomes and patient experience. Outcomes included Department of Health indicators for A&E departments (e.g. waiting times for treatment and patients leaving without treatment) as well as results from clinical audits of sepsis and trauma. Patient experience included results of the Care Quality Commission patient experience survey (for A&E departments) and the NHS Friends and Family Test.
A focus on short-stay wards, speedy discharge and care of frail elderly patients, as well as better links with community providers, are just some of the ways in which the best-performing EDs are beginning to improve patient flow. With staff retention in mind, others are allowing senior clinicians time away from the frontline to develop clinical practice, or to mentor others.
There is of course no one-size-fits-all approach which is one reason why we developed our A&E Pathway Analyser. This is an analytics and reporting module designed to help emergency departments better understand demand from and treatment pathways to improve the care process and resource planning. You can find out more about A&E Pathway Analyser here, but do please get in touch with me if you would one of our consultants to talk you through it, or would like to comment on the report.
Jason Harries, managing director, CHKSA widely held perception of accident and emergency departments, often referred to as the emergency department (ED), is that they are places of long waits, patients queuing in corridors, and stressed and overworked staff.
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