Enter and view: Queen's Hospital Emergency Department Streaming and Urgent Treatment Centre
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On Wednesday 5th December 2018, Healthwatch Havering conducted an enter and view visit in the A&E Department Streaming and Urgent Treatment Centre of Queen's Hospital. The Centre is the first point of contact between most patients and A&E. Patients are assessed there and staff decide whether they need to be referred to other services.
Healthwatch Havering assessed the Centre using the main themes of signage, streaming and staffing.
They found that the Streaming system is working to patients' advantage, ensuring that people receive the most appropriate treatment to their needs. However, improvements to signage, the small waiting room, and streamlining the Streaming and treatment process is needed.
Therefore, the recommendations are as followed: to improve the signage in the department, to consider the provision of a simple number queue control system with a display screen showing the number and informing patients who is next, to provide separate waiting areas for those who are arriving and awaiting Streaming and for those who have been Streamed and are awaiting treatment, to call patients forward for streaming other than calling "next please", and to train staff to be confident in responding appropriately to those patients who are vulnerable.
The service response to this report told us they had ordered new improved signage, introduced the OPEL escalation plan for when queues are long, equipped a third streaming room, implemented electronic streaming, ordered an electronic ticket machine, installed electronic feedback kiosks, and developed a joint major incident plan.