Shared experiences of consultant delivered care - a toolkit for those responsible for configuring consultant delivered care in Acute Medicine.

BACKGROUND

NHS London released commissioning standards for Adult emergency services in September 2011. The Pan- London Acute Medicine Network (PLAN) agreed to survey its members regarding these standards.

METHOD

A web-based survey asked PLAN members to comment on the standards which were most relevant to Consultant-delivered care in Acute Medicine. The self-reported rate of compliance with each standard was calculated. The free text comments were grouped by thematic analysis.

RESULTS

23 responses were received. The compliance with each standard was variable between 9% and 91%.

DISCUSSION

A series of themes are discussed and presented as tips to be considered by those responsible for providing Consultant-delivered care to patients on an AMU.

CONCLUSION

There is still enormous variation between trusts in how acute medical services are supported by Consultant physicians. The demands on each service and the resources available to trusts differ hugely, therefore the solutions to providing a Consultant-led service need to be tailor made for each AMU.