QMC misses A&E targets in heatwave
BUT KING’S MILL HOSPITAL EXCEEDS REQUIREMENTS
NOTTINGHAM’S Queen’s Medical Centre failed to meet national Emergency Department targets by not treating enough patients quickly enough last month amid the most intense heatwave in the last 40 years.
Hospitals are required by the Government to deal with at least 95 percent of patients who turn up at A&E within four hours, meaning they should be admitted to hospital, transferred or discharged.
But last month the QMC dealt with 76 percent of patients in the hottest summer since 1976.
However, that figure rose to 81.3 percent when combining the amount of patients also treated at the city’s Urgent Care Centre, in London Road.
Managers at the QMC are already in the process of adding more emergency cubicles inside A&E ready for the increased demand this winter.
They are also waiting on plans for a brand new emergency department to be approved by health officials - and within A&E there will also be an integrated urgent treatment centre, where incoming patients with more minor injuries will be directed to the most-appropriate care.
Caroline Shaw, chief operating officer for Nottingham University Hospitals, which runs the QMC and City Hospital, said: “July was an incredibly busy month for our Emergency Department and the city’s Urgent Care Centre. We desperately need an Emergency Department (ED) and urgent care facilities that are the right size and design to meet the increase in demand we are experiencing year-on-year and to address the overcrowding in the department that our patients and their families all too often experience.
“We are modernising and expanding our emergency and urgent care facilities at QMC, including redesigning our ‘front door’ ahead of the coming winter.
“This will increase our majors cubicle capacity by 50 percent (from 20 to 30) and create an integrated urgent treatment centre which combines our GP streaming and minors service.”
King’s Mill Hospital, in Mansfield , managed to hit the target, dealing with 96 percent of patients within four hours.
Richard Mitchell, chief executive of Sherwood Forest Hospitals, which runs King’s Mill, said: “Emergency care waiting times are an important indicator of overall quality, patient experience and safety and we are very grateful to our staff who have been working incredibly hard, with support from partner organisations, to ensure the majority of emergency patients continue to receive timely care this summer.”
Emergency care waiting times are an important indicator of overall quality.
Richard Mitchell, Sherwood Forest Hospitals