Emergency Department (A&E)

St George’s Hospital’s Emergency Department (also known as Accident & Emergency) provides a 24-hour emergency service, 365 days a year, and sees around 150,000 patients a year. This service is led by an Emergency Medicine Consultant presence 24 hours a day, throughout the year.

The department assesses and provides initial treatment and management to patients who are severely injured or who have developed a serious illness. St George’s Hospital Emergency Department not only provides a local emergency service but is also one of London’s four Major Trauma Centres.  St George’s Hospital also provides specialist regional services for specialties including paediatric surgery, cardiology, stroke, neurosurgery, ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) and plastic surgery.

On arrival patients are assessed by an experienced emergency nurse. This assessment is called streaming and is designed to ensure patients can be assessed early, prioritised in terms of their medical needs and directed to the most appropriate service to continue their care.  Such services may include advice to attend alternative services which may be more appropriate, including your own General Practitioner, your local Walk-in-Centre, your local Pharmacist, NHS 111 Helpline as well as specific walk-in-clinics.

Information and advice about alternatives to A&E for non-emergency injuries and illnesses is available through NHS 111, via the ‘Services near you’ Section.

111 First – allocated time slots in our Emergency Department

It is important to stress that anyone who attends our Emergency Department without calling 111 first will still continue to be seen as normal, with patients prioritised according to clinical need. Read more about 111 First here.

Visit the NHS 111 website here.

The Emergency Department itself comprises:

• an eight-bay Resuscitation Room for the most seriously ill or injured patients
• a Helipad to receive critically unwell patients from the region
• a Trolley area in which we receive ambulances. These are split in areas designated as Majors A and Majors B,
• a Children and Young Person’s Emergency Department comprising of nine cubicles /rooms, with its own waiting area and baby changing facilities, and a short-stay Paediatric Assessment Unit (PAU).
• an Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC).

The Emergency Department has a team of over 25 Consultants, including three dual-trained in Adult and Paediatric Emergency Medicine and approximately 60 Doctors, Physician Associates and Advanced Clinical Practitioners. The department’s staff of more than 140 nurses is led by a Head of Nursing, two Consultant Nurses and three Matrons.

Within the team there are Emergency Practitioners, who primarily manage patients with minor injuries, Emergency Care Nurses, who specialise in the care of patients in the Resuscitation Room as well as Specialist Research Nurses. The department is supported by a team of non-clinical staff which includes Receptionists, led by a Service Manager.

The department is also heavily involved in several regional and national clinical research projects, which is led by a specialist nursing team. Information on the work of the research unit can be found on its web page.