Out-of-hours care 'inadequate'
Out-of-hours care outside of hospitals must improve, report says
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Monday, 29, Oct 2007 08:32
Out-of-hours care outside of hospitals is "largely inadequate and inflexible" and needs to be reformed, a report claims today.
Published by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), the study says people needing care go to hospitals because there is nowhere else for them to go.
It calls for an expansion in the range of services, providers and facilities offering immediate acute medical care outside traditional hospitals.
The proposals are the result of work from the Acute Medicine Task Force, made up of 40 representatives directly involved in clinical care for acutely ill people in acute and community care settings, primary care and nursing.
Professor Bryan Williams, chair of the task force and professor of medicine at the University of Leicester, said the aim of the report is to "continue to improve the quality and safety of care for people with acute illness".
"Getting it right for acute medical care needs changes in the way care is organised to get the most and the best out of staff and local resources and to provide fast and efficient care for patients," he added.
"It needs changes in the way we work as professionals across the board, to provide wider and more flexible access to clinical decision makers. This report provides the template for a world class acute medicine service - but change itself requires more empowered clinical leadership from within the service."
Included in the proposals are calls for a 'navigation hub' with a local telephone number to direct people to the most appropriate service.
The report also says that in large acute hospitals, the 'front door' should comprise an emergency floor including the emergency department, acute medical unit, critical care and ambulance services. It claims this layout would make it easier for patients to get to the right place more quickly.
RCP president Professor Ian Gilmore said: "This report… presents us with a challenge - to change what we do, when we do it and how we do it.
"For doctors, nurses, managers and all those involved with the care of acutely ill patients, this task will not be easy, but the status quo is not an option if we are to give these patients a consistently high standard of care."