Enter and view: New Cross Hospital A&E Department

Healthwatch Wolverhampton conducted two Enter and View visits to the Accident and Emergency Department of New Cross Hospital on the 20 and 24 January 2015. The visits were developed in response the reported performance of patients being seen within four hours being 80% against a target of 95%, along with feedback received from recent attendees to A & E

The Authorised Representatives asked how long people had been waiting within the A&E department. Eleven had been seen within 1 hour of arrival, two of these were children which meant that 100% of children waited less than an hour. Fifteen people had waited between 1 to 2 hours, three had waited between 2 to 3 hours and only one person had waited between 3 to 4 hours.

The visiting team also heard that people were not aware of the 111 service or the walk in centre, that some had attended because they could not get hold of a GP, and some people said that car parking charges were too high.

The report recommends that display screens should be checked to ensure that patients can clearly see and understand information and that they are continually updated in respect to information at A & E in particularly waiting times for minor and major incidents, and that Information should be made available to patients regarding their own waiting times as appropriate.

There was no provider response included within the report.