Enter & View ESHT Emergency Departments and Urgent Treatment Centres
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This is an enter and view report by Healthwatch East Sussex.
In August 2023, Healthwatch East Sussex (HWES) sent 19 authorised representatives (a mixture of both HWES staff and volunteers) to engage with and hear from patients who accessed care at East Sussex Healthcare Trust (ESHT) Emergency Departments (ED)
and Urgent Treatment Centres (UTC), located at Eastbourne District General Hospital (EDGH) and at Conquest Hospital (CQ) in Hastings.
Authorised representatives heard from 138 patients over two 22-hour periods, asking patients about their experiences using either the ED or UTC. In addition to engaging with patients, hourly observations of the departments were made, taking note of the number of people occupying the waiting room, waiting at reception, and any other significant information that our authorised representatives felt
should be recorded.
This activity was undertaken as part of a larger, rolling programme of activity that HWES is working on in partnership with ESHT during 2023 and 2024.
Key findings include
1. The majority of patients were attending the two departments either because they felt it was the most appropriate place for them to be or that another healthcare professional told them to attend.
2. Patients found the electronic self-check-in system to be too lengthy, confusing and overall, ineffective.
3. Patients felt that their experience could be improved by enhancing the physical environment of the waiting areas, Patients found the waiting area environment to be uncomfortable, crowded and noisy.
4. the interactions between patients and hospital staff and the level and accuracy of information that patients are given about their care.
5. Patients felt that ‘quality of care’ was about being listened to and respected by hospital staff and getting the correct care for their needs.
There are recommendations in this report. See the final sections of the report for details.
There are follow up actions in this report. These are related to returning with more representatives in future.