The Challenge
During 2019, visits to a number of Accident & Emergency Departments in the south of England reached a record high. The NSMC were commissioned to carry out research to understand why this increase had taken place and identify why people choose to attend A&E rather than use other Urgent Care services.
We analysed the result of the research to generate actionable insight for the client. Our research demonstrated that for the majority of our interviewees their trip to A&E made perfect sense at the time. Their decisions to attend A&E were also usually made with a lack of knowledge of the other services available to them. Some interviewees also had prior experiences of other Urgent Care and On-the-day services that hadn't worked out as they would have liked.
Based upon the insight, we generated a number of possible interventions that would help patients to consider accessing other Urgent Care services before coming to A&E. Different interventions were developed for each of the five different A&E user segments that we identified through our research. We also proposed that each of these interventions should be further developed through a series of co-creation sessions with representatives from each of the five segments.
"The NSMC's recent research into A&E attendance was well planned, well delivered and highly insightful. This is a highly sensitive research topic and we are delighted with the NSMC's work."
Urgent Care Manager, NHS East Sussex CCG
The insight gained from this research is being used by the client to develop Urgent Care services that meet the needs of the local population. It is also being used to ensure that the breadth of Urgent Care and On-the-day services currently available is communicated effectively to the local population. The NSMC is also currently involved in this additional strand of work.