Reshaping Urgent Care
To support the public to access the right care, in the right place, at the right time, the Scottish Government, in conjunction with local health boards, is looking to redesign urgent healthcare across Scotland.
As part of this, a new approach to the way people access urgent care has been tested in NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
This trial is being evaluated to inform the national roll-out planned which commenced on 1 December 2020.
From now on, people with non-life threatening conditions, who would usually attend the Emergency Department (ED), are advised to call NHS 24 first on 111, day or night.
NHS 24 will now assess people by telephone and refer them to the right care by the right healthcare professional as close to home as possible. This could include self-care, GP practice or primary care, community pharmacy or referral into the flow centre within their health board for a clinical assessment. Our local flow centre will be based at the BGH.
Following assessment by NHS 24, if the patient still needs to attend ED the local flow centre will schedule an appointment. This is to help manage surge activity periods and avoid crowding to maintain a safe environment. Initially a limited number of slots will be available for people with non-life threatening conditions in the BGH. As we develop this service we will increase our number of appointments once we have assessed the demand. As part this work, our aim is to introduce remote consultations for facilitating these appointments when appropriate.
Emergency calls will always be transferred to the Scottish Ambulance Service in line with established processes.
Speaking about the changes, Dr Lynn McCallum, Medical Director at NHS Borders, said, “The way that people in the Borders access our Emergency Department has changed. Anyone who doesn’t have a life threatening condition, who would have normally turn up at our ED, should now call NHS 24 instead on 111, whether it is day or night. NHS 24 will assess you over the phone and they will be able to signpost you to the most appropriate treatment. This means that we can keep you safe and also avoid you having to make any unnecessary trips to hospital. It also ensures that our specialists in the Emergency Department are available to treat people who require emergency medical care for life threatening conditions.
“If the ED is deemed as the most appropriate place for you to come, you will be offered an appointment.
“Despite these changes it is important that if you think you have a genuine life threatening emergency you should still call 999 as you did before or come to the emergency department, where our team will be able provide you with emergency medical care.
“Please help us to keep you and our NHS safe by making the right call, at the right time, to access the right care for you and your family.”
Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/policies/healthcare-standards/unscheduled-care/