The focus is on patients' clinical needs and distress

摘要

It was at a time when many patients using King's College Hospital experienced inadequate and inappropriate emergency care because the accident and emergency department was physically unsuited to the increasing demand for its services. Casualty Watch is a rapid, systematic method of collecting data on patient waiting times on trolleys and beds in emergency departments simultaneously over any chosen area. The data are faxed to a data collection point, analysed, and then distributed back to the local community health council, hospitals, health authorities, health ministers, and the media within days, providing a picture of the state of emergency care across the country. The data include patients' length of wait from arrival, age, sex, presumptive diagnosis, and action plan.