Urgent and emergency care

NHS to consider routine use of ‘drunk tanks’ to ease pressure on A&Es

NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens today announced that the NHS will decide this year whether “drunk tanks” should routinely be used take pressure off hard-pressed A&E departments and 999 ambulance services during the seasonal holiday period. Supervised areas where revellers who have over-indulged can be checked and even sleep it off if necessary, rather […]

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Ambulance services begin new response times

Four of England’s ambulance services have begun the roll out of new response times announced earlier this year. Explaining the next steps in the delivery of the Ambulance Response Programme, Professor Jonathan Wenger, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Urgent Care, and NHS England’s lead paramedic, Richard Webber, told delegates at this year’s Health and […]

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What next for England’s ambulance services?

The next steps on the delivery of new ambulance service national standards will be outlined at Expo 2017. The Ambulance Response Programme (ARP), which sees faster response times for the most seriously ill and new response categories aimed at giving better outcomes for patients, was approved by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt in July. England’s 11 […]

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New ambulance service standards announced

NHS England has today (Thursday, 13 July) announced a new set of performance targets for the ambulance service which will apply to all 999 calls for the first time. National response targets to apply to every single 999 patient for the first time Faster treatment for those needing it to save 250 lives a year […]

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NHS England publishes updated guidance to country’s paediatric intensive care units

NHS England has today published updated guidance for managing seasonal pressures in paediatric intensive care. The Paediatric Intensive Care Surge Standard Operating Procedure sets out instructions for managing unplanned peaks in demand for critical care beds, across the country’s 29 paediatric intensive care units (PICUs). Every year at around this time, the numbers of very sick […]

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NHS England sets out steps to improve mental health care for pregnant women and new mums and help those attending A&E in crisis

NHS England today sets out plans to provide more support for pregnant women and new mums suffering mental illness as well as to improve care for the many people with mental health problems attending A&E in crisis. Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of NHS England will tell the Mind conference on Tuesday that £40m is to […]

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NHS England strengthens clinical leadership in urgent care and specialised services

NHS England has announced the appointment of one of the country’s top urgent and emergency care consultants, Dr Clifford Mann, as Clinical Lead for the Accident & Emergency Improvement Plan, as well as 40 of the nation’s leading doctors to drive reform of specialised services. Dr Mann – the outgoing President of the Royal College of […]

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Statement on the monthly performance statistics for February 2016

Richard Barker, Interim National Director of Commissioning Operations and Information, said: “While it was pleasing to see improvements in Referral to Treatment Times and Diagnostic Waiting Times compared with last month, in A&E we really are now seeing the effects of the delayed flu spike which peaked in February and March this year compared with […]

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