Inside England’s first accident and emergency department for older people

Inside England’s first accident and emergency department for older people  Like most places, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital’s A&E department is under pressure from rising demand. And performance against the four-hour A&E waiting time standard remains far below the national target.

Some of this pressure – particularly at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital – can be explained by older patients accounting for a growing share of A&E attendances. These patients often require more complex and specialist care to avoid admission to hospital, which can take time to arrange, meaning older patients wait longer in A&E or end up being admitted to hospital unnecessarily.

But this is where Norfolk and Norwich’s journey diverges from most other trusts, because instead of trying to constantly pull geriatric specialists down to A&E, they built an older person’s emergency
department (OPED). King's Fund