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Primary Care Service in A&E
Providing primary care teams to assess and treat non-emergency cases in casualty departments is a new primary care trust initiative. Set up in partnership with acute trusts, it aims to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions and to ensure that the patient is seen and treated by the appropriate clinician for their presenting condition.
Over the last two years, SEH has been commissioned to run pilots for this initiative at the following hospitals:
- William Harvey Hospital, Ashford (on behalf of NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent)
- Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton (on behalf of NHS Brighton and Hove City)
- Maidstone District General Hospital, Maidstone (on behalf of NHS West Kent).
These pilots are ongoing. They have resulted in patients who attend A&E but who require a primary care service receiving that with considerably less delay.
In January 2009, we set up new pilots at the following hospitals:
- Conquest Hospital, Hastings (on behalf of NHS Hastings and Rother)
- Eastbourne District General, Eastbourne (on behalf of NHS East Sussex Downs and Weald).
All our pilot schemes have a GP based in A&E during the daytime and evenings to support hospital staff. The GP’s role is to see and treat patients who do not present with obvious secondary care acute symptoms, as well as treating the patients the GP can direct patients to appropriate care pathways ensuring that their care provision is seamless.
“The skill mix of GPs is a good complement to that of A&E staff,’ says SEH Medical Director Mark Reynolds. “GPs are used to evaluating patients quickly through a process of risk management, whereas hospital A&E staff must follow a longer assessment procedure.”
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