Current Landscape
The NHS Urgent and Emergency Care system continues to face substantial challenges, with persistent issues such as rising demand, systemic inefficiencies, and workforce shortages. Despite the implementation of the UEC Recovery 10-Point Action Plan, critical concerns remain, including high bed occupancy rates, delayed patient discharges and pressure on emergency services. These challenges highlight the need for a focused and strategic approach to overhaul UEC services and enhance their efficiency and effectiveness.
Importance and Timeliness of the Event
This conference comes at a crucial time as the NHS seeks to refine and implement its UEC strategy, focusing on both technical and operational challenges. The event is an essential platform for addressing the urgent need to optimise service delivery, improve resource utilisation and build a sustainable workforce. Given the ongoing pressures on the UEC system, this conference provides an opportunity to discuss innovative solutions and strategies that can be implemented in the short to medium term to improve outcomes and service efficiency.
Key Content Streams
The conference will feature several critical content streams, each focusing on a different aspect of UEC service transformation:
- Enhancing 999 and 111 Services: This stream will explore the success and limitations of recent initiatives aimed at improving call-handling capacity, reducing call abandonment rates and managing ambulance handovers more effectively. The use of data analytics to predict demand and optimise resource allocation will be a key focus.
- Maximising Urgent Treatment Centres: This stream will provide an in-depth analysis of UTCs, examining their role in alleviating pressure on emergency departments. Discussions will include the integration of UTCs with primary care and the use of real-time data to improve patient routing and care delivery.
- Strengthening Diagnostics and Acute Services: A focus on improving access to diagnostics and acute care within UEC settings will be central to this stream. Topics will include the deployment of advanced imaging technologies, the development of rapid diagnostic pathways and the integration of point-of-care testing to reduce delays and improve patient outcomes.
- Building a Sustainable UEC Workforce: This stream will address long-term workforce planning, including the expansion of training programs, the development of new care models such as Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) and strategies to reduce reliance on locum staff. The role of AI and automation in supporting clinical decision-making and reducing workload pressures will also be explored.
Why Attend
Attending this conference provides a unique opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge of the latest data-driven strategies and technological innovations that are critical to transforming UEC services. Participants will have the chance to engage with leading experts, policymakers and practitioners, offering valuable networking opportunities to share best practices and explore collaborative solutions to common challenges.
These insights will equip attendees with the tools and knowledge needed to address the complex demands of managing UEC services, making this conference an essential event for those involved in the strategic planning and operational management of NHS UEC services.
