Elevate Urgent Emergency Care

Researching how urgent and emergency care is being delivered in rural and coastal communities

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England’s Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) system is under pressure. Patients are experiencing long waiting times to access services, including Emergency Departments (EDs) and ambulances.

Demand for UEC services in rural and coastal areas is often worse. These areas have older and poorer populations with complex health needs. Services in rural locations find it difficult to recruit and keep NHS staff. In the summer, tourism increases the number of people using local health and care services in coastal towns.

Finding new ways of providing UEC care in rural and coastal areas is a priority for the NHS and UK government. In the past, the way health and care services have been designed has been based on guidance that has been developed for the whole country. We need to change this so UEC services are developed with the needs of local patients and local problems in mind.

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