Study into delays for patient arrival at AMU after referral from GP
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A quantitative investigation into the reasons for delay in arrival of patients at the Acute Emergency Care Unit after urgent/emergency referral from an appointment with their General Practice Surgery.
IRAS ID
255130
Contact name
Robert Clarke
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
SATH NHS trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 25 days
Research summary
Identification of the reasons for the delay in arrival of patients, who use their own transport, to hospital after same day referral from their GP Surgery or Walk in centre. Using a short questionnaire, attached, to identify any communication difficulties, prior responsibility, or other miscellaneous reasons for the delay.
The hospital audited the Medical Admissions Unit and identified an association between later arrival time to slower initiation of treatment and increased admission rates. The greater the delay in arrival the longer patients are in the department whether discharged home or admitted to the wards. There is evidence that many patients do better if hospital admission can be avoided, removing the risks of hospital acquired infections as well as reduced activity prolonging recovery to pre-admission ability levels.
The questionnaire will be allocated to adult patients, who used their own transport, on arrival at the seating area on the Medical Admission Unit, at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. This is the extent of their involvement in the data collection. The questionnaire will be given out for a month and should capture around 200 patients, if a third consent that would provide around 70 patients data over a spread of days and times.REC name
South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/SC/0561
Date of REC Opinion
16 Jan 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion