Fears at bid to divert A&E patients

NHS bosses have ordered a review into the way patients are diverted from Accident and Emergency units over fears critically ill patients are being turned away.

Trusts across the country are introducing so-called ‘front-door streaming’, with GPs stationed at casualty units to identify the least sick patients.

The initiative, to be rolled out by this autumn, is part of attempts to relieve overcrowding and stave off pressures on units across the country

But following the death of 44-year-old David Birtwistle from Bristol, who died as a result of a pulmonary embolism after he was turned away during a pilot scheme, a coroner wrote to health officials calling for a review.

Research proposals by Cardiff University have also warned that the ‘evidence base’ to support GPs working within emergency departments is ‘weak’ – and that it is ‘unclear’ whether such measures are safe.

NHS England has now commissioned a £1million review into the measures – but the report will not be released until at least six months after the scheme has been launched. It will compare three models – having GPs working in A&E, next door to A&E, or operating a triage and screening scheme – with traditional methods of assessing patients in casualty units

An NHS England spokesman told the Daily Telegraph: ‘Guidance to hospitals ... has been specifically updated in the light of this, so as to make sure that people who need GP care can get it, and people needing specialist assessment can quickly do so.’