Emergency care

Emergency care

Emergency Care

Emergency care is provided by a facility specialising in emergency medicine, which is the acute care of patients who present without prior appointment with a serious or life- threatening emergency, either by their own means or by ambulance. The facility may be an emergency department, also known as an accident and emergency department, emergency room, emergency ward or casualty department. Minor injuries units, walk-in centres or urgent care centres are all services that are not designed to treat patients with an acute medical emergency. This service supports patients who may have sustained non-emergency injuries. Emergency care facilities are a central component of health systems and function both to deliver emergency care, and to facilitate access to broader health services. Emergency services must be appropriately staffed, by well trained and motivated teams, with the necessary infrastructure, tools and processes to deliver quality emergency care. Effective communication with services which interact with the emergency or urgent care centre are essential to manage patients effectively and to improve health outcomes.

This standard includes the following:

• Management
• Safety
• Staffing
• Assessment and treatment
• Environment
• Minor injuries and urgent care provision
• Quality improvement

The CHKS Standards criteria address these elements through succinct criteria statements that are supported by guidance which helps the organisation understand the intent of the criteria, so that it can be applied in the local context.

Additionally, references are provided to direct further reading on the relevant topic.

Throughout the standards the criteria are linked to key assessment frameworks including ISO 9001, the Care Quality Commission, Quality Statements and the Health Information and Quality Authority, (Ireland) National Standards.