THE four-hour waiting time in emergency departments up and down the country has featured heavily in the news lately – but what does this mean and why do you wait?
The children's emergency department at the Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) saw 44,000 children and young people from Nottingham and the surrounding areas last year. This is, on average, 125 patients a day.
Children and young people come to us with a range of injuries and illnesses. Most of them are seen, investigated, treated and sent home from the emergency department itself.
The numbers that we see vary during the year – with the summer months generally not as busy as the winter.
This is due to less cough and cold infections in the summer and families being away on holidays.
The four-hour target means that 95 out of every 100 children and young people that come to the emergency department need to be seen, investigated, treated and admitted to a ward or discharged home within four hours.
This target is for all children and young people who come to the department – whether they have suffered a minor injury or major trauma.
Currently, the children's emergency department is managing to meet the four-hour target for 99 out of every 100 children and young people we see.
Although we are meeting the four-hour target, however, we know there can be occasions when there is a long wait to be seen, especially if there are more seriously ill or injured children who arrive and need to be seen urgently.
When you are waiting in department and someone gets called ahead of you, that you thought arrived after you, it usually means they are either in a different area of the department or have a more serious problem.
We know that waiting can be frustrating, so it is important to make sure that it is emergency that you need to visit. It may be better to be seen by your GP practice, or a walk-in-centre, or to get advice from 111 or a local pharmacy.