Salford Royal is working hard to deliver high-quality, efficient urgent care through its Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) service.
The service treats patients who require urgent assessment but not necessarily admission. SDEC is reshaping how emergency care is delivered by avoiding the need for hospital stays, reducing pressure on inpatient beds whilst improving the patient experience.
What Is SDEC at Salford Royal?
SDEC provides rapid assessment, treatment, and discharge for patients presenting with a range of conditions, including those referred from specialties such as general surgical patients, urology and gynaecology.
What sets Salford Royal apart is its commitment to maintaining admission avoidance, not just deferring hospital stays but preventing them through innovative pathways and fast access to diagnostics reducing ‘days kept away from home’ to ‘hours kept away from home’.
The HOT topic of true admission avoidance
At the heart of Salford Royal’s SDEC strategy is our HOT clinic, a daily service led by consultants and advanced clinical practitioners (ACPs). This clinic is specifically designed for patients who present with pain or acute symptoms but are clinically stable enough to be managed on an ambulatory basis.
Key features of the HOT clinic include:
- Rapid senior clinical assessment.
- Same-day access to advanced imaging sans including CT, MR and ultrasound scans.
- Discharge with planned outpatient follow-up, including blood tests and imaging.
This allows patients to be safely discharged home with a clear plan for further investigation and review, avoiding unnecessary overnight admissions while maintaining important follow up diagnostic assessment.
Patients attending the HOT clinic benefit from:
- Timely diagnosis without the disruption of hospital admission.
- Continuity of care through scheduled return visits.
- A more personalised and dignified care experience.
This approach is particularly helpful for frail or elderly patients, who may be more vulnerable to the adverse effects of hospitalisation.
Patient Feedback
A recent patient said: "The staff on this unit have been amazing, I was transferred from A&E initially with severe pain, this was quicky managed and I was discharged home the same day to be brought back the following day for a scan. The scan showed that I have gallstones, and this was causing my pain. I have since been booked for planned surgery to have my gall bladder removed. I feel better to have a diagnosis and plan all within 24 hours and not having to stay in a hospital bed. Thank you."
Natalie Blake, advanced clinical practitioner at SDEC Salford Royal, said: “We are making improvements on how we deliver urgent care and our HOT clinic is right at the heart of it.”
“We’re proud to offer patients rapid assessment, same-day diagnostics, and safe discharge with a clear plan, all without the need for admission.”
Early this year the team was a HSJ Award finalist in the Urgent and Emergency Care Safety Initiative of the Year category being shortlisted from 3000 applicants to the last 8. An amazing achievement for all involved.
We provide Same Day Emergency Care services across our hospital sites in Bury, Rochdale and Oldham.
