Emergency department indicators
A set of A&E clinical quality indicators is being published as part of a drive to make continuous improvements in patient care and outcomes, to promote accountability and to help the public make informed choices.
These indicators were introduced as part of the NHS Outcomes Framework 2011/2012. They were developed by the Department of Health in conjunction with the College of Emergency Medicine, the Royal College of Nursing and informed lay representatives.
Updated figures will be published monthly on this website.
The Trust has one A&E department - the Emergency Department| at Southampton General Hospital.
Unplanned re-attendances in A&E
Aim: to reduce avoidable re-attendances at A&E by improving the care and communication delivered during the original attendance.
Targets: rates above 5% are likely to reflect poor quality care but rates below 1% may reflect excessive risk aversion.
Download the graph showing unplanned re-attendances in A&E|.
Summary: QI performance maintained through Q2 between 3 and 4%
Total time spent in the A&E department
Aim: to improve the timeless and monitoring of care to ensure patients do not have excessive waits in A&E before leaving the department.
Targets: the median, 95th percentile and single longest total time spent by patients in the A&E department, for admitted and non-admitted patients.
Download the graph showing total time spend in the A&E department|.
Summary: 95th percentile for Q2 performance = 03.59 target reached and improvement of 31 mins from Q1
Left without being seen
Aim: to improve patient experience and reduce the clinical risk to patients who leave A&E before receiving the care they need.
Targets: the left without being seen rate should be minimal and it appears that best practice would be to have level below 5%.
Download the graph showing patients left without being seen|.
Summary: Q2 performance 3.5%, achieving target and an improvement from Q1 performance 4.9%
Time to treatment
Aim: to reduce the clinical risk and discomfort associated with the time the patient spends before their treatment begins in A&E
Targets: a median above 60 minutes from arrival to seeing a decision-making clinician across all patients may trigger intervention as this is one of the five A&E quality indicators included as a headline measure under national oversight to assess organisational and system health in the NHS Operating Framework for 2011/12.
Download the graph showing time to treatment|.
Summary: Q2 performance = 1hr 8 mins, an improvement of 8 mins on Q1 performance
Time to initial assessment
Aim: reduce clinical risk associated with the time the patient spends un-assessed in A&E.
Targets: a 95th percentile time to assessment above 15 minutes may trigger intervention as this is one of the five A&E quality indicators included in national oversight in the NHS Operating Framework for 2011/12.
Progress: Process map in partnership with SCAS. Explore and utilise project management principles to exploring different ways of working within majors whilst monitoring impacts against indicator to identify opportunities to improve efficiencies. New process fully implemented 19 September 2011.
Download the graph showing time to initial assessment|.
Summary: Q2 performance down to 27 mins from 30 mins Q1. In-week performance since implementation of new process = 8 mins.
Ambulatory care
Aim: to reduce avoidable hospital admissions by improving the provision of ambulatory care.
Target: <5%
This indicator measures the proportion of patients attending A&E for cellulitis and DVT who are then admitted. Ambulatory care for emergency conditions, such as cellulitis and DVT, refers to clinical scenarios where an acute event has already developed but the delivery of acute care is feasible without requiring an admission for overnight stays in hospital; patients suffering from those conditions have traditionally been managed in an inpatient environment but can now be managed without a hospital stay.
Download the graphs showing ambulatory care for cellulitis and DVT.|