A rapid evidence review of same-day emergency-care services (SDECs), comparing definitions, descriptions and actual use: Protocol
Review question:
What are the proposed descriptions of SDEC services and how do they compare to the observed use of SDEC services?
Our hospitals are getting busier and busier leading to long waits in A&E departments for assessment and for a hospital bed. This leads to difficulties for hospitals and staff in delivering good patient care, which can have a serious impact on the safety of care and long term health outcomes. Some patients who are admitted to hospital can have safe care and better outcomes if they are treated without staying overnight. This can often lead to better experiences, reduced complications and reduced costs for the NHS. SDECs were developed by the NHS to provide safe care for patients without an overnight stay (NHS Improvement and the Ambulatory Emergency Care Network.
Same-Day Emergency-Care (SDEC) services were intended to provide rapid assessment, diagnosis and treatment for a wide range of urgent conditions, thereby improving patient flow across the whole system. The NHS England Health Building Note that gives guidance for the planning and design of an SDEC services states that “2.3 SDEC services will treat a wide range of clinical conditions, most commonly either medical or surgical. These could include high temperature indicating infection, abdominal pain (for example, appendicitis), deep vein thrombosis, and pleuritic chest pain. The types of conditions that can be managed through SDEC will vary depending on the hospital and needs of the local population.”. At present, we do not know what impact these services are having on patients, hospital admissions or A&E performance. Our study is designed to understand what impact SDEC services are having on patient care and hospitals nationally. This rapid evidence review in the initial part of the project will include any literature about services intending to deliver SDEC. The review will compare proposed descriptions of SDEC services with reports of their actual use, with particular focus on the characteristics of patients that are seen by SDEC services.
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