Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC)

What is Same Day Emergency Care?

Same day emergency care (SDEC) is one of the new ways of ensuring the right patients gets the right care, in the right place, at the right time. The service is designed to benefit those patients that can have their investigations and treatments in one episode of care this is to avoid being admitted overnight. You may be with us for several hours whilst we wait for tests and results.

What happens in SDEC?

You will be initially triaged by a nurse or Healthcare Assistant (HCA).  This will involve taking your observations (Blood pressure, pulse and temperature).

Further investigations at triage may include ECG and bloods.

Once you have seen the nurse/HCA you will then wait to be assessed by one of our doctors, Advanced Nurse practitioners or Physicians Associates. They will ask you to explain your symptoms and any background to your illness. Following assessment, a treatment plan will be put in place.  This may involve X rays, scans or a specialist review.

There may be an element of waiting for parts of your assessment and treatment.  Every effort is made to ensure you are not waiting too long.

Our aim in SDEC is to treat you in the same day to avoid being admitted to hospital, however occasionally our medical team may ask you to attend again on another day for a further review/follow up appointment.

If our medical team feel you do require an admission, we will aim to allocate you a bed on the Acute Medical Unit or another ward in a timely manner.

Once your care is complete the nurse or doctor will let you know when you can be discharged and if there is any follow up to your visit.

Referral Process

You may have been referred here by your GP, the Emergency Department, NHS111 or from a recent hospital discharge.

We ask that you report to the reception desk on arrival. Here they will confirm details and check you in on our system.  Please report any change to your address or GP when you arrive.

If you have been referred via your GP after their assessment, we will need to re-assess you prior to booking any scans or treatment.