Front door to post-take: an interdepartmental quality improvement project to enhance patient journeys from emergency department triage through to the medical post-take review

Abstract

Ninety-five per cent of patients attending the emergency department (ED) should be treated or admitted within 4 hours of arrival.1 Subsequently, a patient requiring hospital admission must receive consultant review within 14 hours of arrival.2,3 In April 2019, only 81.2% of patients at Watford General Hospital were treated or admitted within 4 hours. A QI project was designed to provide in-depth analysis of the patient journey from ED triage to post-take consultant review, thereby identifying areas for improvement. This report summarises the results of the plan, do, study, act (PDSA) cycle undertaken to improve this pathway over a …