PERFORMANCE: A patient waited for nearly 15 hours in accident and emergency at Northampton General Hospital, as the trust failed on three A&E indicators in May.
The trust’s performance report for the month admitted that it failed to meet the targets for: “Total time in the A&E department for admitted patients; Maximum time spent in A&E for admitted and non-admitted patients; and time to initial assessment.”
It said: “For non admitted patients the 95th percentile within four hours was achieved, however, the longest wait was 14 hours and 47 minutes.” The longest wait for an admitted patient was over 13.5 hours.
The report said a “task and finish group” had been set up, led by the lead A&E consultant.
It added that the group “are reviewing actions to ensure progress towards all indicators in line with the action plan”.
The actions include:
- The introduction of team nursing, including reconfiguration of the nursing establishment.
- Improved recording of time of observations.
- Alert to a Senior Doctor at 45 minutes if the treatment plan has not commenced.
- Review of the Nurse Consultant post to provide additional senior decision making for patient assessment.
- Discussion with the DH Intensive Support Team to further develop improved care models.
- Set up of an Urgent Care Board to improve patient flow, which will support the delivery of the A&E indicators.
Source date
June 2011
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