Accident and Emergency Departments: Standards
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to publish data on cases where patients deteriorate or die in Accident and Emergency waiting rooms before being seen by a doctor.
Answered by Karin Smyth
This data is not available in the format requested and there is no plan to publish this. Patients are reviewed at the front door and are seen by a clinical member of staff and streamed to the right service for them. If there is an incident around care processes, this is logged.
The National Health Service and the Department have taken significant steps forward to improve patient safety, including by implementing significant programmes under the NHS Patient Safety Strategy from 2019.
We are also introducing new clinical operational standards for the first 72 hours of care, setting clear expectations for timely reviews and specialist input, including guidance on monitoring patients with frailty. This supports the early identification of deterioration and helps ensure patients waiting in accident and emergency departments are appropriately monitored.
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