An effective system to measure and report quality indicators in acute medical units

The Society for Acute Medicine has developed a number of clinical quality indicators by which all UK Acute Medicine Units can bench mark their activity. These will help to ensure high quality care for patients, inform the continuing development of acute medical services and demonstrate the positive impact of this new specialty. Prospective collection of these data may be a challenge for many busy units. This paper describes a local solution developed in house in a North East hospital. It demonstrates how the data collected can be analysed to assess the effect of changes in consultant presence on the unit and also time taken for patients to be seen by a doctor. The limitations of the system and potential for future development are considered.