Gaining a Deeper Understanding of Emergency Care
In order to design a solution for a service, it is highly important to get to grips with the details of it. There is a lot of jargon that surrounds the health service and it is important to be familiar with it in order to design in an effective way for the service. This blog is mainly me getting to grips with the ins and outs of emergency care which will serve the ideation in the rest of my project.
Urgent Care vs Emergency Care
- Urgent Care: An illness or injury that requires urgent attention but is not a life-threatening
situation. Urgent care in Northern Ireland includes: General Practice during
weekdays; GP Out of Hours (GP OOH) Services at night and weekends;
pharmacies; minor injury units; an urgent treatment centre; Emergency
Departments (EDs); and, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS).
- Emergency Care: Life threatening illnesses or accidents which require immediate intensive
treatment. Emergency Care is currently provided in hospitals with Type 1 and
Type 2 Emergency Departments and by NIAS.
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✨ NIAS: Northern Ireland Ambulance Service
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Types of A&E Departments
There are three main types of A&E departments:
TYPE 1 DEPARTMENTS
- Type 1 departments are what most people might traditionally think of as an A&E service. They are major emergency departments that provide a consultant-led 24-hour service with full facilities for resuscitating patients, for example patients in cardiac arrest. Type 1 departments, which are operated by 124 NHS trusts, account for the majority of attendances.
TYPE 2 DEPARTMENTS
- Type 2 departments are consultant-led facilities but for specific conditions, for example, eye conditions or dental problems.
TYPE 3 DEPARTMENTS
- Type 3 departments treat minor injuries and illnesses, such as stomach aches, cuts and bruises, some fractures and lacerations, and infections or rashes.
Why is Being Treated Quickly in A&E Important?
What’s Going On With A&E Waiting Times?
Being treated quickly in A&E is important for both for clinical outcomes and the experience of patients: delays in care for patients arriving in A&E have been associated with increased mortality and illness. The most high-profile measure of A&E performance in England is the four-hour standard. This refers to the pledge in the NHS Constitution that at least 95 per cent of patients attending A&E should be admitted to hospital, transferred to another provider, or discharged within four hours.
THE FOUR HOUR RULE
The four-hour standard was introduced by the Labour government in the early 2000s. The four-hour standard is monitored for attendances at all types of A&E departments, including A&E services provided by the independent sector for NHS patients.