What our Integrated Acute Assessments Units do
We have two units, one located at Grimsby hospital, and the other at our Scunthorpe hospital, which operate our same day emergency care service.
They provide rapid assessment for medical, surgical, obstetric, and gynaecological patients. The aim is to make sure those patients who don’t need to be admitted to an inpatient bed can go home, with ongoing clinical follow up as required.
You will be referred to the unit by your GP or by staff from our emergency departments (A&E). Once you arrive at the unit, you will be assessed by a nurse who usually performs routine investigations and observations. You will also be seen by a consultant who specialises in acute medicine.
You should receive a quicker diagnosis and treatment at the unit than in the traditional emergency department set-up and will be attended by a multi-disciplinary team, who all have quick and easy access to other services.
Same day emergency care
You may hear the phrase SDEC which literally means same day emergency care. This is one of the many ways the NHS is working to provide the right care in the right place for patients, to provide better quality and efficient care.
It also helps improve flow in our emergency departments. Under this model of care, patients with relevant conditions are rapidly assessed, diagnosed and treated without being admitted to a ward, and if clinically safe to do so, will go home the same day their care is provided.
For seriously ill people, a hospital stay is often unavoidable. However, with modern technology and efficient pathways, we can now offer many people access to rapid tests, review and plans from relevant senior decision makers on the same day so they may not need to be admitted to hospital. We know this is more convenient for our patients.
You will either be treated there and then on the same day in our integrated acute assessment unit, or we will ask you to return to an appropriate area for further monitoring or treatment.
This will also be a positive change for some of our regular patients with long term conditions who previously have had to stay for a few days.
For those patients who need to be admitted it will either be onto the short stay area for up to 72 hours on the IAAU, or one of the speciality inpatient wards.
Useful information
Further information about same day emergency care can be found on the NHS website.