Patient Flow in Acute Hospitals - 12 hours in the Emergency Department at the Royal Cornwall Hospital
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On 31 May 2016, Healthwatch Cornwall conducted a study of patient flow by surveying patients and people accompanying them in the Emergency Department at the Royal Cornwall Hospital. The purpose of this study was to try to pick up information that might not be currently captured and feed it into the groups attempting to improve patient flow. From the analysis of the 78 responses, key findings are:
- 35 respondents were referred to the Emergency Department by another health care professional;
- 62 respondents were not able to receive full treatment from another service even though they made an effort to access that/those service(s) and consequently ended up at the Emergency Department;
- 11 patients could have reasonably expected to get their issue resolved by another service but it was unavailable at the time;
- Three patients experienced a problem with the service from NHS 111 and so went to the Emergency Department
- Six patients were referred to the Emergency Department from Camborne Redruth Community Hospital, more than any other single service except NHS 111.