The coronavirus pandemic posed unprecedented challenges to our health service and is currently subject to a public enquiry, which we have contributed to. We await the outcomes of the enquiry and any impact it may have on our work.
Crowding after COVID
With crowding returning to many Emergency Departments after the pandemic, we released guidance on what to do if your department is becoming crowded again.
Crowding is a real concern to patients and staff alike and we must do all that we can to eliminate it.
Our guidance aims to support leaders in systems, organisations, and Emergency Medicine to consider their current position, and work together in the face of this re-emerging problem.
‘What to do if your ED is becoming crowded again after the initial COVID period’ outlines the questions Departments should ask to ensure that they have adopted relevant good practice and whether the organisation is doing everything it can to reduce crowding.
It also provides key points around advocacy and explores what local EM leaders should do if they feel that organisations are not responding effectively.
Our other work
We continue to lobby to end overcrowding in Emergency Departments and ambulance queues outside of hospitals as part of our Roadmap to Recovery | RCEM campaign as we know that crowding and corridor care is severely detrimental to patient health, not least because social distancing cannot be maintained, thereby impacting infection control.
Below you can read position statements, guidance and information previously issued in relation to COVID19, from us and other organisations.
- COVID-19: Resetting Emergency Department Care – May 2020
- Resetting Emergency Care – FAQs for Clinical Leads – June 2020
- Resetting Emergency Care – a briefing for MPs – May 2020
- What to do if your ED is becoming crowded again after the initial COVID period – Sept 2020
- EMJ Supplement blog from RCEM President and VP Policy: ‘COVID-19: resetting ED care’ – July 2020
- RCEM & College of Paramedics Joint Statement: Ambulances Handover Delays – March 2020
- RCEM & Healthwatch – FAQs on NHS 111 First – October 2020
- Position statement: Governance responsibilities for patients who do not attend booked appointments in Emergency Departments – October 2020
