TOP doctors’ organisations have launched a new standardised approach to patient care, which they say should improve outpatient care in the NHS.
The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Society for Acute Medicine (SAM) have jointly produced standards for Ambulatory Emergency Care (AEC).
They launched the standards yesterday at Manchester University, the first time the College’s council has met in the city.
AEC is a service that provides same day (outpatient) emergency care to hospital patients where they can be assessed, diagnosed, treated and go home the same day, with no overnight admission. Dr Mike Jones, director of training at the college and consultant in acute medicine, said: “AEC units treat a wide variety of common conditions including headaches, diabetes, deep vein thrombosis and cellulitis. These joint standards by the College and SAM aim to define the standards that should be adopted in ambulatory emergency care units. We think that patients deserve to be seen by a doctor or a nurse promptly, and then to have the best treatment possible.
“We believe that these standards will speed-up and improve patient care, and ensure that patients have clear advice on what to do if their condition deteriorates after being discharged from hospital. They should also reduce admissions and readmissions, free up valuable hospital beds for those patients who most need them and provide a much needed boost for our hard-pressed hospitals, the staff who work in them and the NHS as a whole.”
SAM president, Dr Nick Scriven, said it had urged the UK Government last year to address why the implementation of AEC units was “not standard or uniform” across the country. He added: “This is the first time that standards for AEC units have been produced, and it is hoped that all providers, those writing health policy and those commissioning services will adopt them as soon as possible.”
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