The NHS And Accident And Emergency (A & E)

Critically appraise a contemporary issue in health and social care and reflect on the implications this has for your nursing field.
This assignment will focus on three main points, the first being a contemporary issue that its relent to health care. The topic that has been chosen for this assignment is the NHS and accident and emergency (A&E) ‘crisis’ as this is a major talking point not only on the news but also within government. The government response to the NHS and A&E ‘crisis’ will then be discussed, looking at policies implemented by the government, such as the four-hour target and whether these policies are of any benefit to the NHS and the staff that work within the NHS and accident and emergency departments or whether they are a hindrance
As accident and emergency departments are the first port of call for many patients that arrive in hospital, it is vital that A&E staff ensure that all patients are diagnosed correctly and efficiently. It is also vital that all patients are treated correctly before being sent to the correct are of the hospital for the duration of their care, (The College of Emergency Medicine 2013). Therefore, a poor A&E department will have a negative impact for the entirety of a hospital, (The College of Emergency Medicine 2013).
BBC: Hospital 2017 rightly points out that accident and emergency departments are expected to deliver “round the clock care” and with a 10% increase of service users in the last 10 months that means that on average accident and emergency departments are seeing an extra 150 patients a
This saw a first steps to a new approach which set out to improve the patient experience of the NHS (DoH, 2001).
One of the steps set out by the Department of Health, 2001, was that by 2004 no-one attending Accident and Emergency would wait longer than 4 hours from the point of arrival to the point of discharge or admission to a