Former nurse with severe burns turned away from A&E ‘due to new location-based protocol’ – but NCA says “We are not treating patients ‘based on their locality’ but where most appropriate”

A former nurse from Norden has told Rochdale Online of how she was turned away from A&E with severe burns after she claims she was told she wouldn’t be treated because of where she lives.

The woman – who preferred not to be named – initially attended the Urgent Care Centre at Rochdale with painful severe burns to her abdomen and leg. With a wait time of four to five hours, she was advised by staff to attend Oldham A&E.

With Fairfield being nearer to home – and allowing the former nurse and her husband to avoid rush hour traffic – the woman was dropped off at Fairfield’s A&E department.

However, after taking her details and triaging her, a nurse allegedly said the patient couldn’t be treated because she lives in Rochdale ‘as it was their protocol’ and refused to treat her, sending her away.

The former nurse of over 30 years said: “I was told it was a new protocol. Because it was burns, they were dealing with, they took me in to triage straight away.

“The nurse taking details dropped the bombshell that because my doctors’ surgery was in Rochdale, they were refusing to treat me and sent me away, saying it was their protocol.

“I feel this is bad practice and potentially dangerous, at best causing more misery to someone already in pain and at worst could be life threatening.”

The patient’s husband then returned – he had gone home as he was not allowed in A&E with his wife due to Covid-19 restrictions – and took her back to Rochdale, where she was seen a little quicker than expected due to the ordeal.

The woman later added that after attending the burns unit at Wythenshawe Hospital, staff there were “horrified” when she told them what had happened.

She has now been left wanting answers, adding: “I would in no way want to discredit the hard-working doctors and nurses, but this is something that involves management. I was told this is a new protocol and that’s what I would like to get to the bottom of and get it stopped immediately.”

When Rochdale Online asked the Northern Care Alliance – which operates Rochdale Infirmary, Fairfield General, Royal Oldham and Salford Royal – about the alleged ‘new protocol’, the group said patients are treated in the ‘most appropriate place based on condition, not locality.’

A spokesperson for the Northern Care Alliance said: “Patients who attend our emergency departments and urgently need care will always receive it.

“We are not treating patients ‘based on their locality,’ but treating patients in the most appropriate place based on their clinical condition and with consideration, where possible to treating them in a place closest to their own home.”

Clinical streaming – redirecting A&E patients to where they might be seen fastest, depending on their needs and proximity of care to their home – does not appear to be a new process, so it is unclear why the former nurse was told otherwise.

An NHS document from 2017 details clinical streaming in A&E departments, outlining how patients with “time-critical” and “time-sensitive illness or injury” are prioritised first and will typically involve taking a brief history and performing basic observations.

Additionally, a document from December last year entitled ‘Transformation of urgent and emergency care: models of care and measurement’ says hospitals have introduced “a clinically-led streaming model as patients access urgent and emergency care services.”

The document adds: “Care will be prioritised to those most in need. This may include streaming to a more appropriate care setting, such as a UTC or primary care facility.”

The Northern Care Alliance says emergency departments across Greater Manchester are currently streaming patients to manage to demand on emergency care, whilst ensuring patients are treated appropriately. It says this is explained to patients when they are triaged – which the patient disputes – and then referred to the recommended service.

The NHS group adds that patients can still be seen at their current location if the patient is not comfortable with this decision.

Dr Chris Brookes, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Medical Officer at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group, added: “Our three Emergency Departments in Salford, Oldham, Bury and the Urgent Care Centre in Rochdale are all working hard to make sure patients receive the right care in the right place, and each patient is clinically triaged and referred to the correct service for their needs. No patient will ever be redirected unless there is a clear clinical reason to do so.

“Emergency Departments treat urgent and emergency cases, and conditions that are not life threatening can be treated at an Urgent Care Centre, or at a local GP, in a different hospital department, a community service or a local pharmacy. When triaged each patient is assessed to make sure they get the best treatment in the best place for their condition.”