Integrated Urgent and Emergency Care Programme
Urgent and emergency care services across Coventry and Warwickshire, such as Urgent Treatment Centres (UTCs), GP out-of-hours services, ambulance services, and hospital care often work separately from one another.
This can make it harder for people to know where to go for help and can lead to different parts of the health and care system not always working together as smoothly as they could.
At the same time, demand for urgent and emergency care is increasing, meaning more people are needing support, often in busy and pressurised services.
Why the Integrated Urgent and Emergency Care programme is needed
The Integrated Urgent and Emergency Care (IUEC) programme was developed to respond to these challenges as well as responding to national priorities set out in NHS plans, including improving patient access to care, reducing waiting times, and supporting more care closer to local communities and patient’s homes.
The aim is to bring services together into a more joined-up system so that people can get the right care, in the right place, at the right time. This will help make services easier for patients to understand and navigate, improve their overall experience of care, and support better health outcomes.
What we want to achieve
The IUEC programme focuses on five key areas:
- Improving access to the right care – Making it easier for individuals to access timely, effective care closer to home and reducing unnecessary repeat visits to hospitals.
- Better joined-up care – Improving how NHS, social care, and community services work together so patients experience more seamless support.
- Putting patients at the centre of decisions about their care – Ensuring care and services respond directly to people’s needs, preferences, and experiences, helping improve overall quality.
- Helping people stay healthier for longer – Supporting earlier help, prevention, and proactive care to improve patient wellbeing and reduce avoidable illness.
- Supporting patient independence and self-care – Helping people feel more confident managing their own health and wellbeing where appropriate.
What has already been done?
A lot of progress has already been made to achieving this goal. Health and care teams across Coventry and Warwickshire have been working together on ways to improve services straight away while longer-term solutions are being developed.
We have been looking at how patients are already using the services and what different population groups need, improving how services communicate with each other, introducing clearer ways for professionals to access advice and refer patients, and making it easier for patients to be directed to the most appropriate care.
Early results have been positive, and have included:
- More care closer to home – People using Rugby’s Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) can now access GP support outside of normal practice hours, if they need it, helping more patients receive care locally without needing to travel to hospital emergency departments.
- Helping people avoid unnecessary hospital visits – New specialist frailty support is helping ambulance crews care for older patients safely at home, reducing avoidable trips to hospital and supporting people to stay in familiar surroundings for longer.
- Making services easier to navigate – A new Care Coordination Hub in Coventry is improving how local health and care services work together and helping patients get connected to the right support quicker and easier.
- Helping patients get to the right service first time – Improvements to NHS referral and triage systems mean more people can now be directed straight to the most appropriate service, including same day emergency care and urgent treatment centres, helping reduce waits in busy hospital emergency departments.
- Improving access for rural communities – The Medical Day Case Unit at Ellen Badger Hospital in South Warwickshire is providing some treatments and procedures closer to home for patients in rural areas, while also helping reduce pressure on hospitals.
What’s next?
Now, the programme is moving into its next phase, focusing on designing and delivering a more integrated model of care. This first phase will be focused around developing an integrated urgent care (IUC) model that supports our patients to receive the right advice and access to services before they reach hospital. This will include improvements to the Urgent Treatment Centres and the minor injury unit across Coventry and Warwickshire, strengthening the provision of care available during evenings and weekends, and developing a single point of access for healthcare professionals to quickly and effectively navigate patients to the right care for their needs.
By continuing to work closely with local communities, patients, and staff, the programme is creating a more joined-up urgent and emergency care system that can meet people’s needs now and in the future.
We welcome your thoughts on how we can continue improving and integrating urgent and emergency care across Coventry and Warwickshire. We will shortly be sharing a survey, seeking your thoughts and comments on this programme of work and our plans to improve services.