Quality Improvement Zone

Ambulatory emergency care : ‘building a sustainable model’

Emergencyhospitaladmissionisdistressingforpatientsandcarers,itisassociatedwithagreaterriskofmortalityandlonger-termmorbidityandisexpensivetothehealthcaresystem.Increasingly,thelevelofemergencyadmissionsisbeingseenasamarkerofhowwellhealthsystemsareperforming(Purdyandothers,2012).AccordingtoTheKing'sFundestimates,emergencyadmissionsforambulatorycaresensitiveconditions(ACSCs)couldbereducedbybetween8and18percentsimplybytacklingvariationsincareandspreadingexistinggoodpractice(Tianetal2012).TheunderlyingprincipleofAmbulatoryEmergencyCare(AEC)isthatasignificantproportionofadultpatientsrequiringemergencycarecanbemanagedsafelyandappropriatelyonthesamedayeitherwithoutadmissiontoahospitalbedatall,orthroughadmissionforonlyafewhours

Published: 30/06/2017

Publisher: NHS Education for Scotland (NES)

Keywords:

Quality and safety fellowship

Type: Document

Audience: General audience