Patients, clinicians and the public have welcomed proposals for a comprehensive set of indicators for urgent care.
The updated standards aim to capture what matters clinically to patients, end hidden waits and reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.
The proposed bundle of 10 measures takes account of changes in the way that urgent and emergency care is delivered such as the roll-out of Same day Emergency Care and strengthening of NHS 111.
Hospitals will be expected to see and assess patients within 15 minutes, one of 10 indicators which also include 111 performance, ambulance response times, through to time spent in Emergency Departments.
In an NHS consultation four out of five respondents said they would welcome a bundle of measures. The specific proposals were endorsed by two thirds, 67%, of respondents and opposed by just 13%.
Daren Mochrie QAM, Chair of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives said:
We welcome these new standards which we believe could significantly improve the way patients experience healthcare from the NHS, both in terms of speed and clinical quality, and crucially through the elimination of handover delays at hospital emergency departments, which is a significant problem.
Ambulance services already play a vital role in offering the most clinically appropriate response to patients, including telephone advice or treatment at scene.
These new changes could now see further improvements in wider urgent and emergency care provision, drawing on what has been learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, and making the whole experience better for patients.
