TUESDAY, 5 DECEMBER, 2023

Photographs attached: 1 – staff from teams across the system at Ninewells Hospital, 2 – The Emergency Department team at Perth Royal Infirmary

Amazing NHS Tayside teams exceed national emergency department target

NHS Tayside is paying tribute to its amazing teams across the whole system who have achieved 96.4% for the four-hour emergency access target, 32 points higher than the Scottish average.

The latest national figures published today (Tuesday) for week ending 26 November show that Ninewells Emergency Department (ED) achieved 96.1% while Perth Royal Infirmary achieved 97.3% making NHS Tayside the best performing Board in Scotland.

NHS Tayside teams regularly achieve more than 90% for this very challenging target for Boards across Scotland and consistently remain the top performing NHS mainland Board. But the four-hour standard is more than just a number to these teams. It is well recognised as the key barometer for measuring patient safety in a health system and NHS Tayside’s high performance provides assurance that teams are doing everything they can to provide safe and effective care to the population of Tayside.

Medical Director Dr Pamela Johnston said, “NHS Tayside’s consistently high performance against the four-hour target is something we are really proud of, and it’s all thanks to our hard-working teams in our acute and community services who have really taken responsibility and ownership together to make sure that this system works.

“Urgent and unscheduled care continues to be a priority for NHS Tayside and we have invested in our whole system response, from the moment the patient contacts their GP, Scottish Ambulance Service or NHS 24 through to our admission wards and discharge planning.”

Clinical teams right across NHS Tayside and the three Health and Social Care Partnerships – from the Emergency Departments, medical and surgical admissions wards and general wards, to community hospitals, community teams, out-of-hours service and primary care – work together to ensure that they can see patients in the right place for their needs, first time, and move them through the healthcare system as smoothly and quickly as they can to get them back home as early as possible.

Clinical Director for Unscheduled Medicine Dr Monica Doyle said, “We work on a whole system approach to the four-hour standard and we take pride across our whole system when we achieve excellence in our performance.

“Each step of the patient journey is dependent on us having enough capacity in the next step to ensure that this flow can continue. So if we don’t have enough space in, for example, a community hospital ward we would be unable to transfer a patient from an acute hospital ward, which means the acute ward may then not be able to admit a patient from the acute medical unit, and a patient could then be delayed in the ED.

“Across the system, we all work hard to maintain the best possible flow and prevent delays from occurring in particular areas. We all believe in the whole system approach and all play an essential role in achieving the 95% performance standard.”

How the #TeamTayside whole system approach works

There are multiple points of entry into the hospital system in Tayside so patients can sometimes be admitted directly to areas such as the acute medical unit, acute surgical receiving unit, acute stroke unit or Tayside Children’s Hospital. This removes the additional step of having to wait to be assessed in the ED, and patients can get to the most appropriate healthcare professional at the first opportunity. Senior clinicians also provide professional advice through the Flow Navigation Centre to colleagues in Scottish Ambulance Service, NHS 24, the out-of-hours service and GPs so they can make the right decision about which service is appropriate for their patient.

In the Emergency Department itself, the clinical teams will see hundreds of patients each day, where they will be assessed, treated and then discharged home or admitted to hospital. They may alternatively be redirected to another service, such as out-of-hours, their own GP, or a community pharmacy.

The Flow Navigation Centre (FNC), situated in Ninewells ED and established in 2020 as part of the whole system model, not only offers professional advice to colleagues, the consultants and senior staff also speak directly to patients to give self-care advice by phone or video call, arrange for them to be seen at an appointed time in the Emergency Department or direct them to a more appropriate service.

The nearly 40,000 professional-to-professional calls and call-backs to patients each year mean that more than 35% of referrals do not have to attend ED at all. This approach ensures that patients are seen by the best person for their needs and also ensures our specialist staff can see those needing emergency treatment as quickly as possible.

Contact:

Louise Wilson

NHS Tayside Communications, (01382) 740718