Patients in A&E with non-urgent ailments may be told to come back later under NHS plans

Patients will see ‘really big change ahead’, Jim Mackey, NHS England’s chief executive, says. Photograph: Islandstock/Alamy View image in fullscreen Patients will see ‘really big change ahead’, Jim Mackey, NHS England’s chief executive, says. Photograph: Islandstock/Alamy Patients in A&E with non-urgent ailments may be told to come back later under NHS plans NHS bosses urge all hospitals to use ‘digital triage’ process to combat overcrowding in emergency services Patients who turn up at A&E with non-urgent ailments could be told to come back another time under NHS plans to stop hospitals becoming overcrowded and avoid the service’s usual winter crisis. Eighteen hospitals in England are already using “digital triage assessment” to help A&E staff decide which patients need to be seen right away or be dealt with in another way. If patients do need urgent care they are treated at once in the usual way. But if they have more minor ailments and can wait, they are told to come back later that day or the next day or referred to a community-based service, such as a GP or pharmacy. Jim Mackey, NHS England’s chief executive, on Wednesday urged all hospitals to implement what it calls a “hi-tech concierge service”, to prevent A&Es becoming overwhelmed. Patients will see “really big change ahead from us in the next few months” in how urgent and emergency services operate, Mackey said. Using many more bookable appointments, so that patients no longer face long delays to access care, is “a personal obsession of mine”, he told an audience of health service leaders at the NHS ConfedExpo conference in Manchester. View image in fullscreen Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy A switch to more bookable slots will help “bring more order” to services that are frequently overwhelmed with demand, especially during the winter, he believes. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine, which represents A&E doctors, disclosed earlier this week that more than 1,300 patients a month die as a result of overcrowding in A&E units in England. With “digital triage”, patients put details of their illness into online hospital information gathering systems when they arrive at an emergency department. That helps A&E staff to assess their condition and decide the best way to manage them. East Lancashire teaching hospitals NHS trust has found that the triage tool has helped almost halve average waiting times faced by A&E patients from 178 minutes – just under three hours – to 94 minutes, NHS England said. “The new approach is designed to end the uncertainty of not knowing how long you’ll be expected to wait while ensuring ED doctors can focus on those who need urgent treatment most”, it said. UK’s stem cell transplant system may be putting lives at risk, report by MPs finds Read more Mackey urged all NHS trusts to follow the lead of the 18 hospitals handling A&E demand this way. Patients who do not receive A&E care when they attend can also be given an appo