People’s experiences of the Emergency Department at the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, 2019

309 people told us about their experiences in November 2018. We spoke to people in the waiting area of the Emergency Department and Paediatric Emergency Department over 14 three hour sessions last year.

People had travelled to the hospital independently. They told us why they were attending the Emergency Department, what other services they had tried to access and what they thought could make their experiences of getting care better.

Based on what we observed and what people told us, we produced this report which includes recommendations on how things can be improved. This work was delivered in partnership with Healthwatch Northumberland and Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust.

Our recommendations include:

• Providers and commissioners to review the information and advice available to support people to get the care they need and help people to navigate themselves through the urgent care system.
• A system wide approach is needed to review the transport issues people have highlighted, particularly public transport access to The Northumbria Hospital.
• Changes to the waiting room environment at The Northumbria Hospital to improve experience and accessibility

These recommendations have been considered by North Tyneside CCG and Northumberland CCG who commission the services, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust who run the Emergency Department and the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust who run 999, NHS 111 and ambulance services.

Report contents:

• What we did
• Key issues identified
• Our reflections on access and the waiting environment
• Recommended actions
• Next steps
• Stakeholder responses