The Future of Urgent and Emergency Care Services

NHS England recently published a paper entitled ‘The Future of UEC Services’, which looks at how urgent and emergency care (UEC) provision must evolve, based on what has been learned from the Covid-19 pandemic. Future priorities for UEC services have shifted from reducing waiting times to:

• Improving the patient experience
• Improving patient outcomes and
• Reducing risks to both patients and healthcare workers.
  

Emergency departments and urgent care services have seen unprecedented declines in attendance since the beginning of the pandemic, as service users have been discouraged from non-emergency attendance and funnelled towards NHS 111 services - over the telephone and internet - for which staffing levels have been augmented in order to meet demand.

Now, these services remain in a transformation phase and as the pandemic continues and the NHS prepares for winter, further interventions will be required in order to ensure that crowding and waiting times do not return to pre-Covid levels. In order to achieve this, UEC services must continue to:

• Build capacity
• Improve remote access to urgent care services
• Change healthcare seeking behaviours among the public
• Manage hospital occupancy
• Enhance infection control measures and
• Improve flow in A&E.
  

Additional clinical capacity is the cornerstone of most of these measures, whether in 111 call centres or emergency departments themselves. The NHS acknowledges the need to transform UEC services, and the government has pledged to provide funding to achieve this, through measures including:

• Investment in clinical capacity within local Clinical Assessment Services.
• Investment in NHS 111 call handling capacity
• Development of other technologies
  

How can technology help?

The NHS - in particular UEC services - must continue to adapt rapidly in order to meet the ongoing health needs of the nation, including a potential ‘second wave’ of Covid-19. First and foremost, it’s essential - now more than ever - to recruit and onboard new clinical staff quickly and efficiently, in order to meet changing needs and improve services. But NHS recruitment has always been a bureaucratic process, involving a complex system of interviewing, credential-checking and onboarding, all of which can take several months - valuable time which is simply not available in the current climate. What UEC services need right now is a system that makes recruitment of clinical staff easier; is fast, efficient, and is fully compliant with current regulations. That’s where we come in.

At Credentially, we provide a software platform which takes the stress out of hiring, onboarding and compliance. Designed by healthcare professionals with an understanding of the pressures faced by clinical staff, our system can be customised to meet the specific needs of different departments and services.

If you need a concrete example of how we can help your Urgent Care Service, take a look at our most recent case study, covering our work with Hertfordshire Urgent Care. HUC engaged with us after learning that our technology platform automates clinical recruitment, on-boarding and compliance - reducing their administrative burden by 90%.

Having already faced unprecedented challenges in the past six months, NHS UEC services are now faced with the task of bracing themselves for the challenges which lay ahead. Credentially’s software can help. Let us be part of the solution.