“Partnership working is essential in order to make further progress, acknowledging that many of the challenges facing urgent and emergency care services can only be overcome by working together and are a shared responsibility.
We welcome publication of the national Urgent and Emergency Care Plan that supports the work we are already doing together to simplify how people access advice and care, to develop community services and support, reducing the need for hospital care and to improve flow and patient experience within our hospitals.
The launch of the new Integrated Urgent Care Service in the county – bringing together NHS 111, a local doctor led Clinical Assessment Service and the Primary Care Out of Hours service – is already playing a key role in joining up advice and care and ensuring patients get the right support in the right place, 24 hours a day, 7 seven days a week. This includes access to mental health support and advice, which coupled with our well established Mental Health Liaison Team to prioritise mental health assessments when required within our acute hospitals, means mental health crisis care is being enhanced.
We are making real strides in developing care outside of hospital, including in primary care networks with investment in frailty teams, strengthening integrated health and care neighbourhood teams, community ‘see and treat’ initiatives with the ambulance service, significant expansion of Virtual Wards, including use of technology, to support people at home with a range of conditions and community hubs dedicated to serious respiratory infections.
Our advice and guidance service in Gloucestershire also uses technology to make it easier for GPs and paramedics to get specialist opinion from hospital consultants, including in urgent and emergency care, and support more people close to home.
We recognise that by continuing to develop and improve access to joined up community services and support, we can free up capacity and support hospitals to care for those who are most unwell.
We are also working as one across health and care to ensure that the journey in and out of hospital is as smooth as it can be and we are grateful for the positive and supportive approach taken by community partners.
We acknowledge that some patients are still waiting longer than any of us would like and we are committed to making further improvements, ensuring patients receive high-quality, timely care, including expanding same day emergency care.
A raft of measures, consistent with the direction set out in the national urgent and emergency care plan, are being put in place to improve ambulance handover arrangements, improve joint working, decision making and access to care in hospital and support people to leave hospital when safe to do so with ongoing care if needed.
This includes the Home Assessment Team and community services working in the Emergency Department with specialist paramedics to help avoid hospital stays where possible and reduce waiting times.
Social workers are also working alongside teams in the Emergency Department and wards to provide additional support to patients, ensuring they receive the right help to return home from hospital or reducing the need for hospital stays.
The success of our Integrated Flow Hub at Gloucestershire hospitals also shows that we can make better decisions and improve the experience of patients by bringing health and care teams together, including the voluntary and community sector, to work as one.
We will now spend time reviewing the plan and planning in detail for winter with our partners, to ensure that we are well placed to make significant progress in the right direction for the benefit of patients.”
Additional notes
The national Urgent and Emergency Care Plan can be found here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/urgent-and-emergency-care-plan-2025-26/.