The NHS Outcomes Framework 2012-13 tells me that, next year, there will be a survey of people attending A&E to find out what kind of experience they’ve had. Good ones, I hope.

The survey is run on “an ad hoc rolling basis”. The last one was in 2008 – just after Burnley General’s A&E Department was controversially downgraded to an Urgent Care Centre.

Despite countless solemn pledges by Coalition MPs to “bring back A&E” Burnley is, alas, still stuck with its UCC tag.

At the time of the downgrading there was a tremendous kerfuffle which has since died down as people adjust to the new reality.  Put bluntly, they are not getting their A&E back.

Nevertheless there are one or two loose ends that should, for neatness sake, be tied up.

Seems to me this is the ideal opportunity to find out what happened to the so-called “Nomenclature Review” which has disappeared into the deep swamp of promises made, but not kept.

On 14 September 2010, the Health Minister, Simon Burns, said the review would be published by the end of the year  (ie 2010) 

When somebody walks through the doors of an A&E department, a walk-in centre or an emergency care centre, what exactly should they expect? What ailments or injuries are most appropriate for each setting? It is not only an issue of general confusion; it is also a matter of safety. If someone presents at a place describing itself as an accident and emergency department, but it does not have the same facilities as most A&Es, that patient could face delay and unnecessary risk.

As part of the quality, innovation, productivity and prevention programme, work on standardising urgent and emergency care is under way. Its aim is to clarify what services can be expected in various facilities. By using criteria based on clinical evidence, it should be possible to standardise those terms across the country. That is currently being done in three pilot areas: East Lancashire, Manchester and Salisbury. The conclusions should be published by the end of the year, alongside the operating framework. However, it will not state which types of service should be provided in particular areas. That decision will be made locally.

On 17 November last year, the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, confesses that even the College of Emergency Medicine has trouble with the terminology.

…it does not recognise what an urgent care centre is. From its point of view, hospitals should either have an emergency department or an A and E or they should not. If they do not, it is very important to be clear that they do not. I feel that we need to be much clearer about the nature of the service provided in A and E departments and the distinction between that and the service provided in minor injury or minor illness centres.

Presumably, the doctors are just as confused now as they were in 2010.

The NHS Operating Framework for 2012-13 is published in December 2011, as expected, but still no sign of that elusive review.

Attachments:

NHS Outcomes Framework 2012-13. Technical Appendix.pdf	[NHS Operating Framework. Technical Appendix]	2432 Kb
NHS Outcomes framework 2012-3.pdf	[NHS Operating Framework 2012-13]	237 Kb