Urgent Care for Childhood Asthma Care pathway
The ACE (Ambulatory Care Experience) Service provides an alternative to hospital referral or admission for children and young people with common acute illnesses. With safety assessments in place, the wheezy child pathway was the first ACE clinical service lauched by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2017 in collaboration with the GPs and the CCG.
The ACE services are delivered by fully trained nurses in the patient’s own home. After assessment shot and long-term management plans are put in place. The nurses are supported by the on-call consultant paediatrician based in the hospital who takes full clinical responsibility for patients in a ‘virtual ward’. Cases can be referred to the service from Primary Care, as well as the A&E and Children’s Clinical Decision Area from the hospital. In the first 12 months, 273 referrals were accepted and 313 bed days were saved with primary care referring the majority of cases (61%) from 45 different GP practices for asthma-related symptoms.