Emergency departments must meet 50 standards to ensure quality care

Emergency care staff are being asked by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) to consider how well their departments meet 50 standards to ensure quality emergency care.

Emergency Department Care is a 50-point checklist that covers all aspects of emergency care. It is developed to help medical staff within emergency departments provide better care for patients.

The standards cover the patient environment and pathway through the emergency department (ED), treatment of elderly patients and children, care of those with complex needs, education about care, team working and leadership.

Dr Taj Hassan, president of the RCEM, said: “In the hectic, often overcrowded environment of the ED, sometimes staff feel they are forced to compromise on the quality of service being provided, in their desire to safely tackle the sheer quantity of patients requiring treatment in order to hit their targets.

“While meeting targets is important, it is vital that our primary focus should be on ensuring patients receive the highest possible quality of care. Our guide provides a 50-point checklist for ED staff to ensure that delivering safe, compassionate care is central to what they do and placed above all other aims.

“The fundamental points within the guide should already be in place in departments across the country, but this will offer clarification of what best practice looks like and be a timely reminder of the paramount need to ensure quality care ahead of the traditionally difficult winter season.”