Pioneers in patient care: consultants leading change
North West
Innovation: Pilot scheme using local GPs to work in the A&E department for two weeks during the evenings and Saturday & Sunday afternoons from 2pm until 5pm
Mr Donald MacKechnie
Rochdale Infirmary
Job title: Accident & emergency consultant
Specialty: Accident & emergency
Accident and emergency departments are always under pressure and sometimes full to overflowing, but many of the patients waiting for treatment have only minor ailments which do not require the attention of specialist accident & emergency staff. As a result people often wait for hours because patients with urgent or life threatening injuries or illnesses must be treated first.
In a bid to speed this process up Rochdale Infirmary’s A&E consultant, Don MacKechnie, is trying out a new approach to the problem by recruiting local GPs to work alongside hospital doctors and nurses and fast track patients with minor health problems through the department.
“People get worried and they come into the A&E department for help. Often they know that they will have to wait a long time and they are pretty patient, but sometimes they do get frustrated and angry. There is a government drive to speed up the treatment of patients in A&E by streaming them into urgent and non-urgent cases and our pilot is an attempt to do just that,” says Mr MacKechnie.
“Patients with minor injuries can be treated more quickly by the GPs and the more seriously ill or injured patients can receive more concentrated attention from the hospital doctors,” he says of the pilot which is financed by the Rochdale Primary Care Group and first took place in October 2001. A further six-week pilot is planned to run over Christmas and New year to see what difference it will make during what is a traditionally busy time for A & E departments.
Mr Mackechnie says initial reactions to the scheme are positive. He says: “Patients are impressed by the faster treatment and trauma patients’ families are reassured that a consultant will be able to spend time assessing and treating their relative without constant interruption.
“It has reduced stress for both patients and staff. Obviously, we now have to wait for a full evaluation of the pilot, and if that is positive, I would like to use the system full time and I think it could be copied in other units.”