Urgent care pathways

Deficiencies in urgent care pathways for serious but non-immediately life-threatening conditions, leading to delays and poor outcomes.

296 items 10 sources 1 inquiry
Strongest theme matches

Mixed across source types and ranked by classifier confidence plus text match strength.

Indicative ranking
Committee recommendation
86match
#3 - Clearly set out causes of urgent care performance variation and initiatives to improve standards.
Public Accounts Committee
The quality of patients’ access to urgent and emergency care depends too much on where they live, particularly with wide variation in ambulance response times. There is significant regional variation in the performance of services for urgent and emergency care. For example, in 2021–22, average ambulance response times for the most serious incidents varied from six minutes 51...
Matched on terms: care, urgent
PPO recommendation
81match
The Head of Healthcare
The Head of Healthcare should ensure that there is: • Adequate training for nurses responsible for assessing the clinical condition and appropriate treatment pathways for prisoners, and • At least one nurse trained in advanced clinical assessment skills during all day shifts within one year and that nurses should be trained to this level before answering Urgent Assessment...
Matched on terms: care, pathway, urgent
PFD report
77match
June Parkes
Mar 2016 · West Yorkshire (West)
Significant delays occurred in urgent endoscopies due to inadequate protocols for 'in-hours' care and re-bleeds, and a lack of 'out-of-hours' emergency endoscopy/surgery. Concerns also include poor record-keeping, NEWS compliance, and doctor presence during critical transfers.
Matched on terms: care, urgent
PFD report
77match
Teresa Dennett
Jan 2017 · Nottinghamshire
Absence of a clear pathway for life-saving neurosurgery referral, issues with diagnostic imaging, and insufficient input from stroke physicians were identified as critical concerns. A lack of defined protocols risked delayed treatment for patients needing urgent surgery.
Matched on terms: pathway, urgent
Committee recommendation
74match
#1 - Evidence taken from DHSC and NHS England on access to unplanned or urgent care.
Public Accounts Committee
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department of Health & Social Care (the Department) and NHS England about access to unplanned or urgent care.1
Matched on terms: care, urgent
PFD report
73match
Vanessa Dadswell
Feb 2016 · Surrey
Mental health services lacked an intermediate referral option between 4-hour A&E assessment and 5-day appointments, preventing timely intervention for patients requiring urgent but not emergency care.
Matched on terms: care, urgent
PFD report
73match
Harry Gill
Aug 2016 · Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley
The NHS 111 vomiting pathways were not robust, leading to inappropriate responses in most calls and failing to ensure adequate patient care.
Matched on terms: care, pathway
PFD report
69match
Dorothy Townley
Aug 2013 · Manchester (South)
Significant communication breakdowns between District Nurses and the GP, inadequate burns treatment knowledge and training, and unclear procedures for urgent blood tests compromised patient care.
Matched on terms: care, urgent
PFD report
69match
Jacqueline Allwood
Oct 2013 · London (Inner South)
The urgent care center lacked an agreed protocol for DVT management, and a consulting GP failed to meet normative practice standards for diagnosis, risking future missed DVT cases.
Matched on terms: care, urgent
PFD report
69match
Christine McNamara
Nov 2015 · Mid Kent and Medway
There is a lack of clear pathways for post-ERCP patients with complications, and out-of-hours radiography is hampered by the absence of a Maidstone surgical consultant for urgent referrals.
Matched on terms: pathway, urgent
PFD report
69match
Imad Hassan
Sep 2016 · South Wales Central
There is no formal backup plan for PCI procedures when primary hospitals lack capacity, and no agreed pathways for accessing critical care beds outside Wales or for unconscious STEMI patients.
Matched on terms: care, pathway
Committee recommendation
69match
#4 - Ensure all FGM survivors access timely, essential support and specialist care nationwide
Women and Equalities Committee
The Government should ensure that all FGM survivors can access the essential support and care they need in a timely manner. While some variation in service provision may be necessary to reflect local prevalence rates, higher-prevalence areas should offer funded multidisciplinary services that allow quick access to specialist care. In lower-prevalence areas, there must be clear referral pathways...
Matched on terms: care, pathway
PFD report
65match
Keith Martin
Feb 2014 · Surrey
Systemic delays in A&E assessment, diagnostics, senior review, and treatment for chest pain, combined with unclear protocols and poor documentation, resulted in critical care failures.
Matched on terms: care
PFD report
65match
Caroline Robey
Oct 2015 · Leicester City and Leicestershire South
Community healthcare providers failed to use a sepsis screening tool or adopt the national sepsis clinical toolkit, leading to missed diagnosis opportunities and delayed emergency admission.
Matched on terms: care
PFD report
65match
Frederick Bevan
Mar 2017 · Birmingham and Solihull
A poor handover practice led to paramedics receiving an inaccurate incident history from a non-witnessing nurse instead of the witnessing carer, risking detrimental effects on treatment.
Matched on terms: care
IOPC learning recommendation
64match
Investigation into police contact with a man following a report into his behaviour and welfare - Merseyside Police,...
The IOPC recommends that Merseyside Police ensures that there is a robust agreement in place between the force and North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust in relation to people who come into contact with the police and require urgent medical attention’, including people showing signs of Acute Behavioural Disturbance (ABD). This agreement must ensure that the ambulance service...
Matched on terms: care, urgent
PFD report
61match
Chloe Grace Flavell
Jan 2014 · Avon
The reception area management, prior to triage, creates significant and dangerous delays in providing immediate care and treatment, particularly for children.
Matched on terms: care
PFD report
61match
Patricia Chapman
Apr 2015 · County Durham & Darlington
Revised training for community hospital staff lacks provision for obtaining emergency expert medical advice from acute hospitals, potentially delaying critical guidance in urgent situations.
Matched on terms: urgent
PFD report
61match
Sally Ellison
Apr 2015 · North Wales (East & Central)
There was a significant delay in conducting diagnostic tests for severe pneumonia, specifically Legionella, hindering confirmed diagnosis and potentially delaying optimal treatment. A rapid testing and reporting service is urgently needed.
Matched on terms: urgent
PFD report
61match
George Boulton
Jul 2015 · Leicester City and Leicestershire South
Delays in emergency stroke care arose from the GP failing to escalate, a bed bureau lacking emergency re-routing, and ambulance services not classifying a stroke as an immediate emergency, risking critical treatment windows.
Matched on terms: care
PFD report
61match
Leslie Summerfield
Jan 2016 · Manchester (South)
The withdrawal of urgent endoscopy services at a hospital, despite available resources, forces critically ill patients to be transported, causing unnecessary discomfort and potentially aggravating their conditions.
Matched on terms: urgent
PFD report
61match
David Mostari
Feb 2016 · Bedfordshire and Luton
Urgent diagnostic tests were critically delayed over a weekend due to the hospital lacking a robust system for ensuring timely imaging, particularly for patients admitted outside of weekdays.
Matched on terms: urgent
PFD report
61match
Sandra Wood
Feb 2016 · North West Kent
The NHS Trust's lack of routine weekend CT scan facilities led to a critical delay in an urgent scan, proving too late for the patient.
Matched on terms: urgent
PFD report
61match
Marilyn Anson
Feb 2016 · Avon
Delays in urgent 'hot foot' clinic referrals, coupled with inadequate patient prioritisation and resource allocation, led to patient deterioration and death.
Matched on terms: urgent
PFD report
61match
Terence Millington
Mar 2017 · South Yorkshire(West)
Inadequate arrangements for on-call doctors, including a senior doctor's failure to ensure availability and a consultant's distant location, delayed prompt emergency care and a blood product request was incorrectly met.
Matched on terms: care
PFD report
61match
Derek Turnbull
Mar 2017 · Sunderland
There was an hour-long delay in calling an ambulance for a patient with a head injury and known fall risk, despite clear need for immediate hospital transfer, indicating a failure in protocols for urgent escalation.
Matched on terms: urgent
PFD report
57match
Barnabas Newlyn
Nov 2013 · London Inner (North)
Road transfer times for time-sensitive critical care, particularly neurosurgical emergencies, are too long, necessitating earlier consideration and use of air transfer services.
Matched on terms: care
PFD report
57match
Thomas Smith
Jul 2014 · Cardiff & the Vale of Glamorgan
Critical issues include incomplete handovers, slow response times for children, lack of ambulance transfer, outdated national guidance on pre-hospital antibiotics for meningitis, and fragmented hospital care with unaddressed nursing concerns.
Matched on terms: care
PFD report
57match
Mikey Hornby
Dec 2014 · Manchester (South)
The out-of-hours service repeatedly failed to appreciate the seriousness of an infant's condition, delaying hospital admission and critical antibiotic treatment. The GP surgery also lacked essential diagnostic facilities.
Matched on classifier match
PFD report
57match
Robert Hogg
Aug 2015 · Buckinghamshire
NHS Pathways' toddler/child assessment tools are failing to identify very sick children, a persistent and unaddressed risk despite prior investigations.
Matched on terms: pathway
PFD report
57match
Michael Valentine
Feb 2016 · Plymouth, Torbay and South Devon
Inadequate communication and administrative procedures led to a GP not being informed about the rejection of an urgent mental health assessment, as rejected applications were not marked urgent nor accompanied by a phone call.
Matched on terms: urgent
PFD report
57match
David Moran
Jan 2017 · Cheshire
The Trust's referral urgency guidance was imprecise, lacking a default to urgent in cases of doubt or absent screening. Communication between administrative, nursing, and clinical staff also appeared ineffective.
Matched on terms: urgent
PPO recommendation
57match
The Governor and Head of Healthcare
The Governor and Head of Healthcare should ensure that all staff are fully aware of and understand their responsibilities in a medical emergency, including the use of an emergency response code if a prisoner has chest pains and documenting incidents.
Matched on terms: care
Committee recommendation
56match
#31 - Unacceptable patient uncertainty accessing first-contact care through new NHS organisations.
Health and Social Care Committee
Primary Care Networks and Integrated Care Systems offer an opportunity to better integrate care around people. It should not be the case that patients face so much uncertainty about where to turn to if they have a new or urgent care need and it is particularly unacceptable if the number of different organisations involved in providing first-contact services...
Matched on terms: care, urgent
IOPC learning recommendation
55match
Recommendations - Sussex Police, March 2020
​If such a situation arises, a review should take place after proactive measures to allocate responsibility have been taken, as opposed to at the material time of the patient being absent in order to avoid delay in resourcing a response. At 7.06am, a nurse from the Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath, contacted Sussex Police in order to report...
Matched on terms: care
PHSO casework decision
55match
P-001081 - Dudley CCG
Closed After Initial Enquiries
Mrs O complains about a consultation at an Urgent Care Centre which is commissioned by Dudley CCG. She has concerns that a nurse failed to recognise the seriousness of her daughter's medical condition and she believes this sadly led to her daughter's death.
Matched on terms: care, urgent
PFD report
53match
Andrew John Fallon
Jan 2014 · Manchester (South)
Emergency Department staffing levels were critically insufficient, causing excessive delays for seriously ill patients as staff were overwhelmed by patient volume, including minor complaints.
Matched on classifier match
PFD report
53match
Stephen Bedford
Apr 2014 · Cambridgeshire (South & West)
Ambulance staff training and assessment for life support standards are inconsistent, leading to inappropriate crew deployment for critical patients and inadequate communication of crew capabilities.
Matched on classifier match
PFD report
53match
Noel Jones
Apr 2015 · Worcestershire
Delays in patient acceptance by the hospital and the absence of out-of-hours vascular surgery or interventional radiology services likely contributed to the deceased's death.
Matched on classifier match
Committee recommendation
53match
#10 - Establish a 24/7 Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre in every community.
Health and Social Care Committee
We believe there should be a 24/7 Neighbourhood Mental Health Centre in every community. (Recommendation, Paragraph 92)
Matched on terms: care
Inquiry recommendation
53match
MAI-149 - Healthcare provision under Protect Duty
Manchester Arena Inquiry
The Home Office should consider whether the requirement for adequate healthcare provision at events is a topic that should also be addressed by the Protect Duty.
Matched on terms: care
CQC action
53match
TOB Care services Ltd
Must Do
People's needs and choices were not delivered in line with standards, guidance and the law. People were not supported to access appropriate healthcare services. People did not receive person-centred care and support.
Matched on terms: care
PPO recommendation
53match
The Governor and the Head of Healthcare
mental health and/or general nurses are called to assess concerns about prisoners’ health and well-being, and
Matched on terms: care
IOPC learning recommendation
51match
Recommendation - North Yorkshire Police, August 2023
The IOPC recommends that North Yorkshire Police should take steps to satisfy itself that, in line with Authorised Professional Practice, officers and members of police staff understand how to identify the signs that a person is drunk and incapable. Such individuals are in need of medical assistance in hospital and officers should call an ambulance immediately. This follows...
Matched on terms: care
PFD report
49match
Selina Broadhurst
Feb 2014 · Manchester (South)
Strict adherence to NICE Guidelines regarding CT head scans, which don't recommend scans without obvious neurological signs, is causing delayed or missed severe brain injury diagnoses in frail elderly patients.
Matched on classifier match
PFD report
49match
Keith Thomas Graham
Dec 2013 · North and West Cumbria
The report identifies a need to review procedures for seriously injured trauma patients arriving at the A&E, including summoning clinicians, CT scanning contraindications, and minimising time to surgery when indicated.
Matched on classifier match
PFD report
49match
Stephen Palmer
Feb 2014 · Brighton & Hove
Multiple failures, including delayed assessments, lack of senior review, inappropriate unit transfer, and a complete CT scanning service failure, led to critical deterioration and suboptimal surgical management.
Matched on classifier match
PFD report
49match
Sandra Bodrozic
Nov 2014 · London Inner (North)
Significant delays occurred in securing a hospital bed and arranging Mental Health Act assessments, exacerbated by a lack of urgency, protocol, and exploration of private bed options.
Matched on classifier match
PFD report
49match
Anne Wilson
Jul 2015 · London (South)
Changes in police welfare check policy were not communicated to ambulance services, and police staff lacked training on managing mental health requests, leading to critical information not being acted upon or shared with the requesting GP.
Matched on classifier match
PFD report
49match
Eric Gaskell
Feb 2016 · Manchester (West)
Hospital policy restricts doctors to issuing only hospital-specific prescriptions. This, combined with a non-24-hour pharmacy, prevents A&E patients from accessing critical medication outside of pharmacy hours.
Matched on classifier match