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Showing results for tags 'Accident and Emergency'.
Found 154 results
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Content ArticleThe report makes the following recommendations: Putting in place more dedicated ‘High Intensity Use’ services across the country. Integrated Care Systems should develop strategies for addressing high intensity use across their areas, ensuring that there is adequate provision to meet need across acute settings, with a particular focus on areas of deprivation. Improving access to community-based support, to prevent people reaching crisis point. Investment is needed in VCSE provision linked to social prescribing and other key services, such as community mental health. Training and s
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News Article
A&E overcrowding in UK ‘killing thousands a year’, say doctors
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Thousands of patients a year are dying because of overcrowding in A&E units in Britain, and more fatalities will follow this winter, emergency care doctors claim. An estimated 4,519 people in England died in 2020-21 as a direct result of people receiving less than ideal care while delayed in A&E waiting to start treatment in the hospital. “To say this figure is shocking is an understatement. Quite simply, crowding kills,” said Dr Adrian Boyle, a vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM). There have also been 709 deaths in Wales and 303 in Scotland -
Content ArticleKey findings from the inquiry include: evidence of sub-standard care for sickle cell patients admitted to general wards or attending A&E departments (including a widespread lack of adherence to national care standards) low awareness of sickle cell among healthcare professionals and clear examples of inadequate training and insufficient investment in sickle cell care frequent reports of negative attitudes towards sickle cell patients and a weight of the evidence suggests that such attitudes are often underpinned by racism. The inquiry also found that these concerns
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Content ArticleThe report makes recommendations to address issues in the five areas covered by the CARES campaign. It highlights that overcrowding and challenging working conditions can result in an environment where errors are more likely to happen and makes the following recommendations to improve patient safety. Governments should: increase NHS multiyear funding to recover the healthcare service. ensure that the upcoming public inquiry examines the resilience and capacity of the urgent and emergency care system in the run up to the pandemic, as well as the performance of the system, to
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News Article
GPs dispute Javid’s claim lack of appointments is overloading A&Es
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Family doctors have reopened their bitter dispute with the government by accusing Sajid Javid of misleading MPs and the public by blaming overloaded A&Es on a lack of GP appointments. The Royal College of GPs has told the health secretary in a strongly worded letter that there is no basis for the claim, which he made to MPs last week and which was widely covered by the media. In it Prof Martin Marshall, the college’s chair, said that its 54,000 members “are dismayed and disappointed at the media coverage of your evidence session, which suggested that the lack of face-to-face GP a -
News Article
Lives at risk from 'unacceptable' ambulance waits
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Lives are at risk because patients are facing unacceptably long waits for a 999 response, paramedics across the UK have told a BBC investigation. Average waits for emergency callouts for problems such as heart attacks and strokes are taking more than twice as long as they should in England. Targets are being missed in the rest of UK too, with some seriously-ill waiting up to nine hours for an ambulance. There are numerous investigations ongoing into deaths linked to delays. The problems have forced all ambulance services to be put on their highest levels of alert - meaning patie -
News ArticleLong waiting times in emergency departments are becoming normal, with some patients spending days in A&E wards before they can be moved into other hospital beds, emergency physicians have warned. Leaders of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) and the Society for Acute Medicine (SAM) said that some hospitals had effectively run out of space, meaning patients could not receive the right care until a bed became free. NHS figures for September show that 5,025 patients waited for more than 12 hours to be admitted to hospital in England. That is only 1% of the 506,916 admitt
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News ArticleA major hospital has declared a “critical incident” after a surge in demand saw more than 100 patients awaiting treatment in A&E and 25 ambulances queueing outside. The Royal Cornwall Hospital Treliske, in Truro said “unprecedented” pressure this week is worse “than at any point during the pandemic.” It urged “families, friends and neighbours” to collect any patients who are able to “to leave hospital sooner.” Managers at Cornwall’s main hospital raised the operating level from OPEL4 — known as a ‘black alert’ — to an ‘internal critical incident’ to allow for greater coopera
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News ArticleAn NHS trust has spent more than two weeks running on emergency measures after skyrocketing demand since mid-September, while others have kept people waiting for more than a dozen hours in the backs of ambulances. The Independent has learnt one patient in the West Midlands spent 13 hours waiting to be handed over to staff at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust. Gloucester Hospitals Trust declared its internal incident on 19 September and only stood it down on 5 October, while London’s Barnet Hospital took similar extraordinary action on Monday due to high demand. And at North
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Content ArticleThere are an average of 15.5 million emergency department attendances each year in England, and since 2012 there has been a 74% increase in admissions to hospital via emergency departments. The GIRFT emergency medicine report makes 17 recommendations to help match capacity to local demand and improve patient flow. You will need a FutureNHS account to view this report, or you can watch a short video summary which includes key recommendations.
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News Article
Scotland records worst A&E waiting times performance yet
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The percentage of patients visiting A&E who are seen within four hours has hit a “terrifying” new low in Scotland, latest figures show, with ministers urged to “get a grip” on the growing crisis. The figure has been declining since the summer amid high demand, staffing shortages and a lack of patient flow through hospitals. In the week to 3 October, just 71.3% of patients were seen within four hours, a five percentage point drop on the previous week, according to a data published by Public Health Scotland. The figure is the lowest since records began in 2015, with the Scottish Go -
Content Article
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News Article
Ambulance handover delays at A&E are putting patients at risk
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Between April 2020 and March 2021 there were approximately 185,000 ambulance handovers to emergency departments throughout Wales. However, less than half of them (79,500) occurred within the target time of 15 minutes. During that period there were also 32,699 incidents recorded where handover delays were in excess of 60 minutes, with almost half (16,405) involving patients over the age of 65 who are more likely to be vulnerable and at risk of unnecessary harm. Data published by the Welsh Government highlighted that in December 2020 alone, a total of 11,542 hours were lost by the ambu -
News Article
‘The system is broken’: Patients told to sit on chairs outside A&E
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Sick patients have been forced to wait outside a hospital A&E department on chairs and wrapped only in blankets while being treated by nurses in shocking photographs and videos captured by one worried relative. The situation, at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, is a regular occurrence, workers have told The Independent. Footage shared with The Independent by a concerned member of the public shows one patient being cannulated, where a needle and intravenous line is inserted into a vein, while another patient has a monitor attached to track their vital signs. Patients wait -
News ArticleA patient died from a serious spinal injury after emergency staff incorrectly attributed his physical condition to his mental health issues, an inquest heard. Robert Walaszkowski, who had been detained at a secure mental health unit run by North East London Foundation Trust in October 2019, suffered a serious injury after running into a door on the unit. Staff from London Ambulance Service did not suspect a spinal injury and he was taken to the emergency department at Queen’s Hospital in Romford with a suspected head injury. An inquest heard he did not receive a spinal examination an
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News ArticleScotland's Health Secretary Humza Yousaf says the NHS is facing the "biggest crisis" of its existence. There's a shortage of beds, the demand for ambulances is soaring and waits in accident and emergency departments are getting longer. On top of that, COVID-19 admissions have been rising fast as the number of infections in Scotland spiralled at the end of the summer. BBC News share five charts illustrating the enormous pressures currently being felt by NHS Scotland. Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 September 2021
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News Article
Major survey reveals ‘best and worst’ A&Es for patient satisfaction
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A survey of almost 50,000 patients by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found people’s experiences of emergency departments improved in 2020, compared to the last time the poll was conducted in 2018. On a scale of one to 10, the regulator found 33% of patients scored their overall experience as 10, compared to 29% in 2018. Eighty-eight per cent of patients scored their care at six or higher, compared to 85% three years ago. However, overall satisfaction levels declined at around 20 providers. Ted Baker, CQC’s chief inspector of hospitals, said: “This year’s survey shows some en -
Content ArticleWidespread use of this tool could reduce the spread of COVID-19 in hospitals and avoid delays to treatment for people who are not infected with the virus. These AI models could be used to screen for COVID-19 in hospitals to help guide care and stream patients. The vast majority of people arriving at hospital who are COVID-19-negative according to the models could then be treated while awaiting confirmation from the hospital laboratory. When the models suggest someone does have COVID-19, they could await test results and undergo treatment away from other patients. This approach uses
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News Article
Increased ambulance handover delays threatening patient safety
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A new snapshot survey by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has found that in August 2021 half of respondents stated that their Emergency Department had been forced to hold patients outside in ambulances every day, compared to just over a quarter in October 2020 and less than one-fifth in March 2020. The survey, sent out to Emergency Department Clinical Leads across the UK, also found that half of respondents described how their Emergency Department had been forced to provide care for patients in corridors every day, while nearly three-quarters said their department was unable to mai -
News ArticleThe family of a senior medic and lifelong NHS campaigner have called for an investigation into his death as it took paramedics more than half an hour to arrive at his home after operators were told he was suffering a cardiac arrest. Professor Kailash Chand, a former British Medical Association deputy chair, had complained of chest pains before one of his neighbours, a consultant anaesthetist at Manchester Royal Infirmary, called 111 for help before telling the call handler within three minutes that he believed his friend was having a cardiac arrest. “I was answering their questions w
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News Article
Covid Scotland: Patient numbers soar amid 'out of control' A&E crisis
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
New data has revealed the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 is climbing rapidly, even before the latest surge in infections. These figures highlight the immense pressure the NHS is currently facing, and according to this data, there are now 585 people in hospital with the virus, up from 312 just eleven days ago, showing it to be the highest figure since early March. Health Secretary Huma Yousaf said the situation in A&E is being closely monitored. "Hospitals are reporting increased levels of people attending A&E who are much sicker and require higher levels of care. Weekl -
News ArticleAccording to reports, a hospital in the northeast of England is having to turn away non-emergency patients from A&E due to "unrelenting" pressures on the service. This new policy was announced on Tuesday by Hull Teaching Hospitals Trust, warning patients they may need to travel up to 30 miles in order to receive care. Dr Makani Purva, chief medical officer said in a statement on the trust website on Tuesday: “Staff are working incredibly hard to provide care for patients in challenging circumstances but we need people to use the full range of services available. One in four patients
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News Article
Moving A&E patients to other departments has ‘high mishap rate’
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
The authors of a new study in Australia, published in the Emergency Medicine Journal, have said moving emergency care patients to other hospital departments by wheelchair or trolley is prone to a high rate of mishaps, with nearly 40% leading to incidents. The study, which took place at Austin Hospital, a teaching hospital in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg, also found endotracheal tubes, ventilator hoses, and arterial lines were also associated with high mishap rates. “Risk events are common and some result in harm. Risk factors include a high equipment number, transport to a war
