Focus on rise in A& E users
HEALTH chiefs are trying to pinpoint why A& E attendances have rocketed in recent years.
The rise has sparked a project by NHS bosses who to find out why some patients chose to head to the department rather than access other services in Sunderland.
Earlier this year, the Echo reported admissions to Sunderland Royal Hospital’s emergency ward had surged in the past few months.
Nationally, there has been a three to five per cent year- onyear increase in attendances to departments – but staff at the Royal have experienced a seven to eight per cent rise in the same period.
Each year, the A& E department in Sunderland sees about 92,000 patients, an average of more than 250 each day.
It is believed many of them could have been treated by other services such as walk- in centres or self- treated with basic first aid and advice.
GP Ian Pattison, chairman of the Clinical Commissioning Group ( CCG), which is leading the project, said: “We are committed to involving patients when planning new health services and developing existing services.
“We hope this work will provide us with an insight into why patients attend A& E, in some cases inappropriately, and help us identify services that could be provided or better advertised to reduce the demand on A& E.
“A& E is an emergency service that should only be used when people are badly injured or show the symptoms of seri- ous illness.” Having to deal with a broader range of health issues, an ageing population and a shortage of doctors willing to work in the A& E department because of long, stressful shifts have all contributed to the rise in admissions according to the service.
Dr Pattison added: “In order to save patients time and inconvenience, and allow accident and emergency staff to concentrate their efforts on those most in need, we need to find out why people are attending A& E when there are a range of other health services that may be more appropriate, including self- care, NHS 111, pharmacists, dentists, GPs, minor injury and illness units/ walk- in centres.”
Sunderland CCG will use the findings from this work to help plan its services over winter – a time when the demand on all services increases.