Setting: ED and Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC), Lister Hospital, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust
Background: In the same day emergency care (SDEC), we wanted to ensure that patients are seen in the right place at the right time. The members of patients coming through Emergency Department (ED) at present are extremely high. Flow from ED-SDEC can be slow due to wait times. Beds are not available for patients to move into so the patients in ED are continuing to rise. Being able to move suitable patients quickly over to SDEC will help reduce the number of patients sitting in ED, improve the patients’ journey through the hospital, and reduce some of the strains on the ED staff. Also, by keeping the Acute Medical Unit and Same day emergency care un-bedded, we can increase flow and ultimately delivering improved patient care.
Project aim: To increase the number of patients picked up in ED by the SDEC-in reach team to 20 per day by December 2023.
Drivers: training and education of both ED and SDEC staff, improving processes and having a strict pathway, ensuring safety, communications among teams and with patients.
Outcome: Number of patients pulled daily from ED
Change ideas tested: Attended ED team time to talk about the service and what to expect, clear process for in-reach staff to follow, have an assigned room base in ED, poster display to explain what the in-reach nurse does.
Outcome: Increased number of patients pulled daily from ED from 7 to 12.
Elizabeth-Hale---Same-Day-Emergency-Care-in-reach-team-to-improve-patient-flow.pdf