A two-week trial to redirect people from the Emergency Department (ED) at Queen’s Hospital has been extended for a further four weeks.

This followed analysis of results from the first week of the trial, which began on 11 July, which showed that up to 60 people a day who did not need emergency care were being redirected to more appropriate places to get the care they needed.

Of those redirected, 33 per cent did not need any treatment at all and were advised how they could self-care at home.

The trial aims to change the way people access emergency care so the hospital’s ED team can focus on those patients with life threatening illnesses or injuries who really need their help and expertise – which is what the ED is really for.

People arriving at the ED were seen by a doctor, and if they could be treated elsewhere they were given advice on where to go to get the care they needed, such as their local pharmacy, GP or urgent appointments via the GP hubs.

Sheraz Younas, who leads the Urgent Care Centre at Queen’s Hospital, is one of the doctors assessing patients on arrival.

He said: “Patients often come to the Emergency Department because they don’t know the best place to go for treatment, or they may feel their symptoms can only be treated at hospital.

“During the trial we’ve found that after we’ve spoken to people about how to manage their symptoms, whether that be going to their local pharmacy or other primary care services in the community, they’re really happy to have been given this advice by a clinician. I’ve yet to come across any unhappy patients.

“This not only gives us more time to focus on the patients who really need emergency care, it saves a huge amount of people lots of time by going to appropriate services outside our hospital.”

The trial, which does not include children under 16, was agreed with health partners across Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge and was extended following a meeting of the System Resilience Group (SRG) this week.

It will run until the next meeting of the SRG, made up of our Trust, CCGs and local authorities, on 22 August.

Partners will then look at the results.  The outcomes are key part of the work taking place across the three boroughs to transform urgent and emergency care as part of a national ‘vanguard’ project.

Full information on getting the right care is available on our get the right care for you page.

A study into people’s use of EDs can be found on the BHR Partnership website.