Transformation of urgent and emergency care
Download (PDF 1.14 MB)Summary of report content
NHS England asked Healthwatch Cambspboro to assist in getting local people’s views on proposed new standards to measure the performance of urgent and emergency care services. They hosted two online workshops in February 2021 to have a conversation with the public about their understanding of the proposed new set of standards for monitoring urgent and emergency care services. Sixteen people took part, eight people in each of the online workshops.
Participants were asked how important each of the 10 proposed new standards were to them, personally. They were also asked if they felt there were other measures that should be included in the bundle of standards, and how they felt the new measures should be communicated to patients and visitors. As well as considering the questions, the participants shared their rich experiences of using local urgent and emergency care.
People stressed the importance of being able to speak to the right person at the right point when accessing urgent and emergency care. There needed to be good, regular communication and patients’ expectations should be managed. When looking at the proposed standards, people felt that one measure alone isn’t enough and some of the standards felt more important for internal management than for the public.
The participants suggested that the new bundle should include four standards:
- Time to initial assessment.
- Clinically ready to proceed.
- A measure similar to the existing four-hour wait standard.
- A measure of patient experience.