Downgrading A&E departments does not increase deaths, study suggests
Downgrading emergency departments does not lead to a spike in deaths – despite patients having to travel further for emergency care, a new study has suggested.
It comes as health bosses in Shropshire want to shake-up hospital services and have a single emergency centre for the county.
Under the controversial Future Fit plans, there would be urgent care centres set up at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford's Princess Royal Hospital, but only one of the sites would house an emergency centre.
The proposals have sparked much debate in communities across the region, with worries that it could lead to a rise in deaths.
But new research suggests this may not be the case, although it may heap pressure on local ambulance services.
Researchers from the University of Sheffield set out to examine the impact of five emergency departments in England that were downgraded between 2009 and 2011.
The study – which evaluated units in Newark, Rochdale, Hartlepool, Bishop Auckland and Hemel Hempstead both before and after the emergency departments were downgraded – found no overall increase in the number of deaths.
The authors wrote: "This suggests that any negative effects caused by increased journey time to the ED [emergency department] can be offset by other factors; for example, if other new services are introduced and care becomes more effective than it used to be, or if the care received at the now-nearest hospital is more effective than that provided at the hospital where the ED closed."
However, they said that there were implications on other NHS emergency care providers, such as an influx in the volume of calls to ambulance services.
They noted an increase in the number of incidents that were dealt with by the ambulance service and an increase in the time taken to get to hospital, according to the study, published by the National Institute for Health Research.
The authors pointed out that in four of the five areas studied, the emergency department was replaced with an on site urgent care facility.
Emma Knowles, from the School of Health and Related Research at the University of Sheffield, said: "The public, in particular, require reassurance that the closure or downgrade of an ED does not result in increased death rates."
The study's co-author, Professor Jon Nicholl, added: "It is important to highlight that we didn't find the better outcomes for patients that planners hoped to see from closing these small departments either.
"This means it isn't clear that the disruption and anxiety that can be caused by closing emergency departments is worthwhile."
For more information on how to have a say on the Future Fit proposals visit nhsfuturefit.org
The public consultation will run until September 11.
