Emergency department ranked top in the North West thanks to new initiatives

Alder Hey Children's Hospital Paediatric Admissions Unit

During December 2023, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital’s emergency department was ranked second nationally with regards to waiting times, assessing and treating 85% of children and young people within four hours of their arrival.

The national NHS target stands at 76%, with Alder Hey’s emergency department ranked first in the North-West region.

Key changes that helped facilitate this performance over the winter included increasing streaming from the department to their Urgent Treatment Centre and launching a Paediatric Admissions Unit pilot.

The Paediatric Admissions Unit is a short-stay facility which focuses on direct referrals from GPs, midwives and health visitors, helping to reduce the number of necessary admissions to the Emergency Department.

In addition to this, the Trust’s online Symptom Checker continues to be a helpful tool for parents/carers to access clinical advice on treating common symptoms in children, and signposting to the best service to use if they’re unsure whether or not to come to A&E.