Voicepiece
Lis Nixon, recently appointed National Emergency Care Lead for A&E, talks about the 98 per cent operational standard and the year ahead in emergency care.
The last year has seen significant improvements in emergency care, particularly as A&E patients are now being treated more quickly than ever before. The new 98 per cent operational standard is a patient promise and represents a key area of public sector reform. It is now the responsibility of every trust to ensure that we sustain these improvements so that patients continue to be seen, treated and admitted or discharged within four hours.Not only is it important that we continue to improve on and sustain the 98 per cent operational standard but trusts need to work closely with other departments and organisations to ensure we see improvements across the whole of urgent care. We must ensure that patients who need urgent or emergency care are able to get a consistent, high quality service that meets their needs, whether it's within A&E or provided by another service or department.Over the coming year the Emergency Care Team's work will be split into the two key areas of policy development and performance management. Within these two areas are three main streams: data analysis, intervention and sustainability. The goal over the next year is to establish which areas of work need to be done at a national level, either by the Emergency Care Project Team or by the Recovery and Support Unit, and which areas of work need to be embedded within strategic health authorities. It is imperative that SHAs develop the skills to enable them to take the urgent care agenda forward.Improvements so far have been significant and I am encouraged by the widespread acknowledgment that we now need to build on these changes to continue improving urgent care for patients.Lis Nixon can be contacted on lis.nixon@dh.gsi.gov.uk or on 020 7633 4066.
