AMANDA PRITCHARD

IT IS no secret that NHS staff are managing record demand across the board.

In A&E, services are particularly pressured – there were 393,000 more A&E attendances and 217,000 more emergency admissions last year than in the year before.

The figures out today show that, despite significant pressure, NHS staff continue to work incredibly hard to ensure that as many patients as possible get the care they need when they need it.

With the need for care continuing to grow, everyone in the NHS knows that transforming how we deliver that care is vital. The rollout of Same Day Emergency Care is a great example of how we are doing that.

It is one of the biggest transformations to urgent care in recent years – and crucially it shows how focusing on the experience of patients also allows us to make better use of our finite resources like ward beds.

Nobody wants to spend a night in hospital if they don’t have to. So these services are about bringing the expertise available on wards closer to the front door – with a mission to support as many people as possible to return to the comfort of their homes to rest and recover on that same day, having received the care and treatment they needed.

The specialist units bring together a range of staff – including therapists, nurses and consultants – to give rapid tests and treatment for patients with common conditions or symptoms in a matter of hours, with full access to diagnostic technology, and the ability to arrange follow-up appointments to ensure people are recovering well. Now available to support every major A&E in England, these units are also helping to reduce the time people spend in hospital and free up hospital beds for those who do need to stay overnight.

These same-day services have already led to one emergency department reporting a 50% increase in patients completing their A&E treatment within the four-hour target. This is just one plank of our Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery Plan to help get patients the right care faster.

Initiatives

It has already delivered significant improvements for patients over the last year.

Alongside putting in place extra hospital beds and more ambulances on the road, the NHS has expanded the use of other innovative and patient-focused initiatives, such as falls services and urgent community response teams, as well as our world-leading “hospital at home” virtual wards.

While challenges and pressure remain – and there is a lot of work to do to continue this progress – the NHS is always striving to deliver the best care for patients.

This is a fantastic example of staff pulling out all the stops to help people get high-quality care when they need it most.