Can Ambulatory Emergency Care have a positive impact on acute services?

Ambulatory Emergency Care is a key component of the service for many Acute Medical units across the United Kingdom. A well-functioning ambulatory care unit facilitiates early senior review by a consultant and may reduce the need for hospital admission by managing patients along alternative safe clinical pathways. In this article, we present 12 months of data (January 2014-January 2015) from our Ambulatory Unit at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL NHSFT), which demonstrates how many different conditions can be safely managed along ambulatory care pathways and how this can significantly contribute to postive patient satisfaction survey results and meeting the A&E 4 hour target for a medium-sized Acute Trust such as WWL NHSFT. We also emphasise that the key factors of co-location of ambulatory care with the Emergency Department along with dedicated medical and nursing staff are essential to the success of this model of care.