Patients and staff perspectives on the reasons for A&E attendances
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Patients and staff perspectives on the reasons for attendance at Emergency Departments in Yorkshire and Humber.
IRAS ID
193604
Contact name
Suzanne Mason
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
Addressing the long term rise in demand in emergency and urgent care services is a key focus for the NHS. The increasing demand for care in the emergency and urgent care system has been recognised as unsustainable by an NHS England review in the long-term1. There is a fundamental lack of detailed empirical evidence about which patients currently use emergency and urgent care services. A critical first step to managing demand for urgent and emergency care is to better understand patient trends, characteristics and the reasons why it is changing.
This study seeks to answer the following question: What are patients’ reasons for attending and utilising Emergency Departments (EDs) services within Yorkshire and Humber region, their perceptions of the availability of other services and their satisfaction with the care received.
It also seeks to understand emergency care service providers’ perspectives on why patients attend the Emergency Department.
Firstly, a sample of patients attending 5 Emergency Departments across Yorkshire and Humber are eligible. Participants will be asked to complete a 2 stage short questionnaire exploring the reasons behind their attendance during this care episode, whether they have used other urgent care services in relation to this attendance, their awareness of other healthcare services and their satisfaction with the care they have received.
Secondly, a number of interviews with ED staff will be conducted. ED staff will be asked a short list of questions to ascertain their views on the reasons behind the emergency department attendance and what they think can be done to reduce demand.REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
16/WA/0053
Date of REC Opinion
2 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion