Emergency Departments
Data from Emergency Departments (EDs) and Minor Injuries Units (MIUs)/Other are used for several purposes including:
- Monitoring the 4-hour wait standard
- HEAT T10 target to reduce attendances at EDs
- Information is used to support Winter Pressures
- Identifying the times of the year where activity increases
- Providing evidence to improve patient care and support Scottish Government policy
See all Emergency Care Publications
History
The A&E data mart was established in June 2007 to monitor the compliance of each NHS Board against the 4 hour wait standard. As such, the focus was around a small number of fields such as arrival time, discharge time and reason for wait. Fields such as these are classed as mandatory items and each site must submit them. Many additional fields can also be submitted, and with the increased requirement for information on ED activity, NHS Boards are encouraged to submit as many as possible.
In July 2010 the A&E data mart was extended further to collect items such as diagnosis, several injury fields and an 'alcohol involved' flag, which will be used to identify whether the patient's alcohol consumption was a factor in the attendance. The collection of the new fields has been driven by a variety of SG policy decisions and interest from a number of organisations including the Scottish College of Emergency Medicine, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA), the Violence Reduction Unit within Strathclyde Police, the Scottish Government (SG) and academia. Although, there is the facility to collect the new fields, they are still under development and ISD is currently working with NHS Boards to improve the data quality and completeness of the data.
Emergency Access Delivery Team
The Programme provides information support and guidance to the Emergency Access Delivery Team (EADT) which has responsibility for the HEAT T10 target reducing attendance rate at A&E through Shifting the Balance of Care, winter planning and oversees the 4 hour wait standard.
