Royal College of Emergency Medicine: Improving safety in the emergency department in winter (October 2018)

Summary

Emergency departments (EDs) are under ever increasing pressure, with performance in winter reaching new lows every year; putting both patient safety and staff morale at risk. While a significant increase in resources, for both the NHS and social care, is clearly needed there are actions that health service leaders and boards can take to help their systems maintain safety and improve performance over winter. 

Content

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine outline the actions required and call on health service leaders to encourage whole system ownership of ED performance, with every part of the hospital understanding the importance. The guide and accompanying video describes what systems should do appropriate to the performance ‘zones’ EDs find themselves in: Green (4 hour performance >95%), Amber (85-95%), or Red (<85%). 

Attachments