Today sees the start of a pilot to enhance our Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) service at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, with the aim of making sure patients spend no more than 12 hours within our urgent and emergency care departments.
Deputy Director of Operations for Medical Division, Jason Bushby, said: “We know that a significant group of our patients who require urgent care could potentially be discharged on the day.
“Our current Medical and Frailty SDECs are doing a sterling job helping to reduce the pressure on our EDs, though the current service does struggle to provide access and space for all urgent and emergency care (UEC) specialties.
“This is particularly a challenge for patients waiting on diagnostic tests and who may not have been identified for a specialty as they await the outcome of the diagnostic procedure.
“It's well evidenced that the longer people spend in the Emergency Department, the poorer the clinical outcomes are. So being seen by the correct speciality at the earliest opportunity is ever-more important, which is why we've set up this Urgent and Emergency Care SDEC.
“Having all our SDECs supporting us in this way means that those that are most sick arriving by ambulance or self-attending into the emergency department can be seen in a timely way.”
The new unit is situated in the Integrated Flow Hub alongside our existing SDECs. A new Minor Injury Clinic will also form part of the pilot. Patients attending after hours, and who do not need urgent treatment, will be asked to come back the following day to be seen by an emergency practitioner.