Accident and Emergency Department at Southport & Ormskirk NHS Trust

On Monday 13 January 2020, Healthwatch Sefton worked in partnership with other local Healthwatch organisations to hold listening events at Accident & Emergency (A & E) departments across Cheshire and Merseyside. This report details the findings from the visit at Southport & Formby District General Hospital (Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust). They spoke to 29 people.

The main reasons for patients attending the A & E department in the morning were injuries relating to falls and issues with pain. During the afternoon/ early evening, eye conditions and cardiac/ chest pain were the main reasons for patients attending.

 Eight patients (am) and 13 patients (pm) had attempted to access other services prior to attending the A & E department. Patients had mainly tried to access services at their GP practice or had been in contact with NHS 111. Seven patients told us that they had attended A & E as they could not get an appointment with their GP. The main reason why patients didn’t try going anywhere else prior to attending A & E, was “it was too urgent, it was an emergency”.

When asked, ‘How did you get to the A & E department, the majority of patients said they had been driven there by someone else.  Nearly three quarters had been seen within one hour of arriving at the department. Over half felt that they had been kept informed at each stage of their treatment. Staff updated patients on how busy the department was. Staff introduced themselves. This shows that the ‘My Name is…..’ campaign is working.

Overall, staff attitude was the main reason why patients had a positive experience. In looking at what could be improved, six patients who visited the department in the afternoon/ early evening shared that ‘waiting times’ could be improved.

The report contains a response from the Trust to the issues identified in the visits.