GP Streaming: Winter Pressures Relief For Emergency Departments

Introduction

Emergency Departments (EDs) across the UK are continually under immense pressure, especially during winter months when patient numbers surge.

Overcrowding, long wait times, and missed targets are significant and continual challenges. For instance, currently over 25% of patients spend over four hours in A&E. These issues not only affect patient care but also overburden healthcare staff, exacerbating the strain on an already overstretched system.

To help address these challenges, GP Streaming has emerged as an effective solution. By improving patient flow and care efficiency, GP Streaming helps relieve under pressure ED departments and supports hospitals in hitting performance targets.

This blog delves into exactly how GP Streaming can transform the efficiency of Emergency Departments and ensure readiness for any surge – winter or otherwise.

It also details how flexible, rapid staffing support solutions – including specialist cover from the likes of Paramedics and EMTs – can help to combat critical staffing shortages, and support the drive for efficiencies and improvements in ED during peak periods.

1. What is GP Streaming?
2. How EDs Become Overcrowded
3. How GP Streaming Can Alleviate Overcrowding
4. The Growing Evidence of the Effectiveness of GP Streaming
5. The Importance of Flexible Staffing Solutions In EDs
6. The Future of ED Efficiency: Combining GP Streaming and Rapid-Response Staffing

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How EDs Become Overcrowded…

As winter approaches, Emergency Departments face a surge in patients due to seasonal illnesses like flu and respiratory infections, as well as accidents from slippery surfaces. These factors intensify the pressure on an already strained NHS, widening the gap between patient demand and available resources.

Each winter brings a “perfect storm” of rising patient volumes, limited resources, and an overstretched healthcare system. This leads to overcrowding, long waits, and missed targets—challenges that worsen during peak periods.

Already, in September 2024 alone, trolley waits of over 12 hours increased by 18%. Hitting the 4-hour target is challenging enough, so in peak periods that are typically defined by overcrowding, such targets become even more difficult to meet.

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…And How GP Streaming Can Alleviate Overcrowding

With the NHS facing ever-increasing A&E attendances – 1.2 million more so far this year compared to the same period before the pandemic, GP Streaming is emerging as a solution to support with immediate and long-term relief.

Using triage and redirection strategies, patients assessed as having non-life-threatening but urgent conditions (eg, minor injuries, flu-like symptoms, mild asthma, or routine medication concerns) can be directed to a GP stream within A&E. These patients would not require specialist emergency care but still need timely attention to prevent escalation.

GPs within this setting can also act as gatekeepers, offering medical advice, providing prescriptions, managing routine tests, or referring patients back to primary care services. They can also advise patients on whether they need further specialist care or diagnostic tests available in hospital settings.

GPs in A&E are able to address many conditions without the need for further escalation to hospital beds, meaning fewer unnecessary admissions. This is particularly important because many patients come to A&E for conditions that could be managed in primary care settings, but without intervention, they might end up being admitted due to prolonged waiting times or concern over worsening symptoms.

The success of GP streaming lies in its integration into the triage process. When set up to manage non-urgent cases efficiently and effectively, it has the potential to reduce unnecessary admissions which can significantly alleviate overcrowding, in turn, improving patient outcomes and the hospital’s capacity and efficacy to respond to true emergencies.

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The Growing Evidence of the Effectiveness of GP Streaming

The results showing the effectiveness of GP Streaming for alleviating overcrowding are already compelling. Hospitals that have implemented GP Streaming services have seen notable reductions in wait times and a higher percentage of patients being admitted, transferred or discharged within that target 4-hour window.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has estimated that around 15% of attenders at major emergency departments might not be there if they had seen a GP in that 24 hour period, and a study on emergency department use estimated that 23% of adults attended for non-urgent reasons.

Several other studies support the effectiveness of GP Streaming in alleviating pressure on EDs – the evidence is mounting.

A prime example of the efficacy of ID Medical’s GP Streaming Solutions comes from the Primary Care Streaming Services we deliver at Aintree University Hospital and the Royal Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Faced with the challenges of extreme demand, post-COVID backlogs, and seasonal pressures, these hospitals opted for tailored Primary Care Streaming services, which proved to be transformative.

• Over 7,000 patients were treated in the first 11 months, reducing ED footfall and ensuring non-emergency patients received care from GPs, thus freeing up ED staff to focus on critical cases.
• Service capacity was increased with a 365-day service, offering flexibility to adjust to the peaks and troughs of patient traffic, including night shifts to handle surge periods.
• 70-90% clinic utilisation rates were achieved through strategic planning and collaboration to optimise the patient care model for local needs.

You can read the full case study here.

And find out more about ID Medical’s GP Streaming and other emergency department solutions.

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The Importance of Flexible Staffing Solutions In EDs

The success of GP Streaming is enhanced by having the right ED staff in place. While GP Streaming helps to reduce non-emergency cases and alleviate overcrowding, flexible staffing solutions play a critical role in ensuring that EDs can adapt to unpredictable changes in patient volume.

Emergency departments face surges throughout the year – whether due to seasonal pressures like winter, or sudden, unexpected spikes from a plethora of other reasons. Flexible staffing models allow EDs to reallocate resources swiftly, ensuring efficiency and high-quality patient care, no matter the circumstances.

In addition to managing varying patient demands, flexible staffing complements and supports permanent teams. Temporary or part-time Healthcare Professionals help share the workload during peak times, reducing the risk of burnout and allowing full-time Healthcare Professionals to maintain a sustainable pace.

Flexibility also ensures EDs have the right expertise available when needed. By bringing in specialists or professionals with niche skills, healthcare systems can match staff to the specific cases at hand, providing the right care at the right time.

Whether addressing sudden surges or staff absences, flexible staffing is essential for maintaining a resilient and responsive emergency department – ensuring that care quality remains high while supporting both patients and permanent team members.

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ID Medical’s Workforce Solutions For Flexible ED Staffing

ID Medical provides urgent support for ED staffing shortfalls by placing Paramedics, EMTs and other specialist Primary Care Professionals where they’re needed, when they’re needed, helping to prevent declines in emergency care performance during peak periods, staffing crises or any other pressurised scenario.

Our services ensure positive patient outcomes by reducing wait times and maximising discharges. This support can be delivered via a tailored managed service or flexible long-term contracts to suit specific needs.

ID Medical’s on-demand workforce, including paramedic and EMT cover for minors, majors, and resus, helps to reduce wait times, meet 4-hour targets, and ensure smooth patient transitions from ED to wards.

Specialist support we provide for emergency departments includes:

• Cannulation / blood taking
• Drug administration
• Conducting ECGs
• Triaging
• Providing ALS to patients
• Patient observations
• Patient personal care
• Patient handovers to other departments

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The Future of ED Efficiency: Combining GP Streaming and Rapid-Response Staffing

The combined approach of GP Streaming and flexible staffing solutions creates an opportunity for EDs to implement a robust and comprehensive strategy to manage increased and fluctuating demand while maintaining high standards of patient care.

Year-round pressures and peaks are the reality for every ED, but with the right support and workforce management, these challenges can be dealt with effectively.

GP Streaming offers a proven solution to keep non-urgent patients out of the ED, improving patient flow, reducing wait times, and allowing staff to focus on critical cases. Coupled with flexible and comprehensive staffing solutions, NHS trusts can ensure they are fully prepared to meet fluctuating and extreme demands while maintaining high-quality care standards.

To discuss your ED requirements, get in touch.

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