Safety and quality of emergency care

Chief Inspector of Hospitals Prof Ted Baker has written to England’s NHS trusts to highlight good practice from successful emergency care departments.

The examples came from discussions at a recent CQC event attended by senior clinical and nursing staff from 16 trusts rated good or outstanding for urgent and emergency care services.

The key themes identified in Prof Baker’s letter to trusts were:

• Ambulance arrivals
• First clinical assessment
• Use of inappropriate physical spaces
• Specialist referrals
• Escalation
• Deteriorating patients
• Patient outcomes
• Staff.