Emergency department clinical quality indicators

From April 2011, the Department of Health introduced five new headline indicators and three supporting indicators to cover all Emergency departments in England.

These indicators have been designed to present a comprehensive and balanced view of the care delivered by Emergency departments and accurately reflect the experience and safety of patients and the effectiveness of the care they receive.

All trusts were expected to achieve the total time in department measure from the 1st April 2011. Trusts are expected to show progress towards achievement of the other four headline and supporting indicators during 2011.

Five headline indicators are:

Total time in Emergency department
Time to initial assessment
Time to treatment
Unplanned re-attendance rate
Left without being seen rate

Further information on indicator definitions are available to download in PDF format.

Standards, not targets

It is important to note that these are standards and not targets the onus is on continual clinical and service improvement rather than trying to achieve a value.

This information is designed to share with our patients, members and the public how we are doing against these new indicators on a monthly basis.

Latest outcomes from August 2012

	Indicator	key measure	threshold	met	actual	No of attendances
Timeliness	Total Time in ED	95th percentile	240 mins	Yes	238 mins	6744
	for admitted patients*	95th percentile	240 mins	No	325 mins
	for non admitted patients*	95th percentile	240 mins	Yes	230 mins
	Time to initial assessment	95th percentile	15 mins	Yes	0 mins
	Time to treatment	Median time	60 mins	Yes	52 mins
Patient Impact	Unplanned re-attendance rate	percentage	<=5%	Yes	2.1%
Patient Impact	Left without being seen	percentage	<=5%	Yes	1.8%