Visits to hospital emergency and urgent care - experiences and actions
We visited different areas of University Hospital Coventry to understand experiences of urgent and emergency care between 9 February and 10 April 2024.
We wanted to find out about experiences of local hospital urgent and emergency care services and to see how people flowed between different services within urgent and emergency care as part of the ‘streaming process’ to get people to the most appropriate place for their medical needs.
We heard from 92 people.
We called for
- Safer access between floors for those who need help
- Improved privacy and dignity
- A review of the purpose of SDEC and MAU
- More communication and support for those who need it
- For good practice to be shared
- For plans for a lift between A&E and Minor Injuries Unit
Next steps
Managers at UHCW have identified actions in response to each of our recommendations.
These include
- a portable x-ray machine moving back to the Minor Injuries Unit
- funding secured from the hospital charity to update the SDEC waiting area
- reviewing why people attend SDEC and where from
- making sure that people know they can stay with relatives who are vulnerable e.g. have dementia. When there is less space and relatives are asked to leave.
Downloads
Downloads
Response from Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board
University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire have already responded to the report and we endorse the actions that they have already taken to address some of the issues raised and their plans to resolve those which remain outstanding.
In addition to this work, the ICB is reviewing the overall quality of experience in urgent and emergency care settings, across all of our providers, with a view to identifying further areas for improvement and I have shared this report with the Quality Team at the ICB to help inform this programme of work.
One thing we identified clearly in the report as an area for action where the ICB were able to support was with the Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) Service. We agree with the action within the report to review the information that people are given when they are referred into SDEC, their understanding of what services they can expect and to set expectations appropriately and will take this forward with primary care and UHCW to see how we can support. As an ICB we are also in the first phase of initiating a project on UEC Productivity which will focus on SDEC, working with provider representatives, workforce and our Business Intelligence team to understand and improve how SDEC operates. We will ensure your report and recommendations around SDEC form part of this work.
