hospital life Meeting emergency care standards In 2005 The Royal College of Physicians and The Royal College of Surgeons published a joint document: The Emergency Department: Medicine and Surgery Interface Problems and Solutions. It highlighted key issues for emergency departments to overcome to deliver speedy but safe care, including: • waiting for results • waiting for medical teams to respond to referrals from the emergency department • junior members of specialist teams being the first point of contact, who then have to wait for a more senior member of the team to make decisions • experienced emergency physicians and nurses having to refer obvious admissions through a specialty team. The ECC has successfully implemented solutions to these issues, including: • prioritisation of ECC requests for X-ray; CT, MRI, ultrasound and VQ scans done on the same day • senior doctors available on the floor to admit patients directly on clinically appropriate beds in the unit and in some cases, specialty wards • senior leadership on the floor allows decision makers to be available at every step of the patients’ pathway • established nurse-delivered protocols for common conditions like DVT (Deep Venous Thrombosis), Cellulitis and selected cases of Pulmonary Embolism • multi-professional agreed care pathways for more complex conditions, eg, cerebro-vascular accidents, including admission. The medical staffing of the ECC by two Consultant Acute Physicians with specialty interests is in line with recommendations from the Royal College of Physicians. Consultant
“We intend to continually review the services we provide and make any changes which we believe will improve both patient care and staff morale” reviews avoid unnecessary delays in managing very sick patients and facilitate earlier discharge of other patients directly from the unit. The ECC is greatly supported by medical and elderly consultants, each of whom conduct three ward rounds in a 24 hour period. This model also provides training for Foundation Year 2 doctors that is focused on the development of a flexible workforce of doctors who are both competent at dealing with acutely ill patients and effective at communicating with patients and colleagues alike. The ECC at Kent & Canterbury Hospital is new, exciting, innovative and effective and has attracted widespread attention and visits from
clinicians and managers across the NHS, and similar models are likely to be implemented across the country. We believe that we have established a good team and this has been reflected in delivering high standards of care for our patients. We intend to continually review the services we provide and make any changes which we believe will improve both patient care and staff morale. Our aim is to continue to deliver world-class medical care speedily, expertly and efficiently for both our local population and the millions of tourists who visit Canterbury every year.
Putting patients first
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