We undertook an interesting piece of work at a London Foundation Trust to review their main emergency pathways, particularly focusing on the Emergency Department and use of short-stay admission units. The aim was to refresh a review we undertook last year, looking at the services provided and opportunities to expand into more ambulatory care pathways and other best practice initiatives. This was supported by a trend review of 2 years’ activity data. The work was jointly commissioned by the Trust and their co-ordinating CCG commissioner.
The final report made recommendations as to where the ED could build on its current good working practices – such as high use of ambulatory care for key conditions and use of ring-fenced beds for short-stay admissions. We were supported in this work by Cath McLaughlin.
The report went on to make recommendation as to the most appropriate options for pricing this type of activity in contracts, using a mixture of national tariff and local price incentives where appropriate.