National survey highlights decline in people’s experience of urgent and emergency care.
Published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the survey reveals the responses from patients who attended either a major consultant-led A&E department (Type 1) or an urgent treatment centre or minor injury unit (Type 3) run directly by one of 122 acute hospital trusts in England during September 2022
Although people surveyed remained broadly positive about their interactions with staff, this year’s results show a decline in positivity for every question asked where a historical comparison is available.
Dr Sean O’Kelly, CQC’s Chief Inspector of Healthcare, said:
“These latest survey responses demonstrate how escalating demand for urgent and emergency care is both impacting on patients’ experience and increasing staff pressures to unsustainable levels. Staff are working extremely hard amidst challenging circumstances. We see that reflected in these results, but also during our inspections and monitoring of services and in the discussions with clinicians in CQC’s emergency medicine specialist advisor forum.
“The last urgent and emergency survey was carried out shortly before the second peak of the pandemic when A&E and Type 3 attendances were significantly lower than pre Covid levels – so the decline in positive feedback compared to then must be seen in that context. But it remains extremely concerning that for some people care is falling short, and we cannot afford to ignore the long term decline shown in relation to issues like waiting times, information provided when people leave to go home, access to pain relief and emotional support.
“As we made clear in our annual State of Care report last year, the rise in demand for urgent and emergency care and challenges staff face in meeting that demand is a symptom of a much wider capacity and access issue across health and social care. Urgent and emergency care requires the support of the whole hospital and the surrounding local health and social care system. Without that support and without a more co-ordinated approach, more and more people whose needs can be better met by other services will continue to seek help at emergency departments and urgent care centres.
“I encourage NHS trusts to reflect on their individual results to identify what changes they might be able to make to help drive improvements, and to use CQC’s People FIRST online resource as a support. But there is also a wider and very urgent need for Integrated Care Systems to ensure that local services are set up in a way that is designed around the needs of the population they serve, and that those services are supported to come together to help manage the increasing demand and ensure the best quality of care for all.”
