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Chelsea and Westminster top performing A&E for the second year running

25 April 2014

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital is the top performing Trust in England for the national A&E 4 hour waiting time target for the second year in a row.

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital is the top performing Trust in England for the national A&E 4 hour waiting time target for the second year in a row.  The Trust met the national target of 95% of patients seen within four hours every week during 2013/14.

Dr Claire Emerson, clinical lead for A&E, said: “Like all A&E departments, meeting the four hour standard is important for patient outcomes and experience. We have our own internal target of 98%, higher than the national target, which we have consistently met over the past two years. Our A&E and Urgent Care Centre are integrated services and in the same location which means we have the flexibility to react to patient need and distribute clinical staff across these two services in order to react to that need.”

“The four hour target is not just focussed around A&E, as much of our success in meeting the times lie in close working relationships with diagnostic and speciality teams. In addition, having a good patient flow throughout the hospital can make a real difference. It’s beneficial to have early senior doctor review within the A&E Department which means that decisions about patient care and treatment are made quickly. Subsequently onward referral to the medical and surgical teams is made as rapidly as possible and therefore patients requiring admission do not wait for a bed any longer than is necessary.”

This summer the Trust will begin a £10m redevelopment of the emergency department. This will provide more space, more staff and state-of the art equipment to treat emergency patients.  Our current A&E was built 20 years ago and this expansion will accommodate the increasing number of people using our service and ensure the environment is the same high quality as the care we provide our patients.

In support of this major redevelopment, Chelsea and Westminster Health Charity is launching a £600,000 fundraising appeal.  The appeal will enable the creation of an environment that minimises anxiety for patients as well as supporting clinical innovations such as apps, devices and services to improve the experience of being in the Emergency Department for patients, families and staff.