The Child Health Clinical Outcome Review Programme (delivered by NCEPOD) has released Right Place, Right Time, Right Team, which is a review of the quality of the care provided to children needing emergency surgery.
Quality of care has improved despite increased demand…but there is still room for improvement
Many of the findings appear reassuring – there was no delay in arrival at the admitting hospital in over 92% of cases; 84% of hospitals are part of networks for non-elective procedures; and up to 90% of surgeons and anaesthetists in non-specialist hospitals feel supported by their local paediatric centres for the acceptance of referrals and provision of advice. However, this means that around 10% of hospitals/surgeons/anaesthetists are not utilising networks or feeling supported. This report found that increased centralisation of elective surgical services for children has resulted in some healthcare staff in non-specialist units feeling less confident about providing emergency surgical care for critically ill children.
This report contains a number of key findings relating to multiple aspects of care such as training, regional networks, care pathways, and timely access to services. Specifically, it states that only half the hospitals reviewed had an emergency theatre co-ordinator, in spite of the fact that this role has been shown to improve care and reduce delays, and is recommended in existing guidance.
It also contains three areas for improvement:
- Providing prompt access to emergency surgical and anaesthetic care by specialists with the relevant training and experience in delivering care to children and young people
- Ensuring that one or more co-ordinators are in place so that a) children and young people needing emergency surgery have timely access to a theatre; and b) patients who were not operated on within their prioritisation period are highlighted and the issue escalated
- Preventing children and young people who are waiting for emergency surgery from being fasted for any longer than necessary.
Read the full report: You can view the report by clicking the button below.
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