Initial Assessment Acuity (Supporting NHSE Acuity Programme)

About the NHSE Acuity Programme

Resources (Open Access)

FEN are delighted to be taking part in the NHSE Acuity Programme. We know that the highest risks on the risk register in most acute healthcare provider organisations are the wait for initial assessment in Emergency Care and overcrowding within Emergency Departments.

Patient safety must be everybody’s highest priority and the NHSE Acuity tool is already demonstrating improvements in patient safety, patient experience and staff experience. To support healthcare providers in implementing this initiative FEN has developed both clinical assessment tools and a training programme for qualified Emergency Nurses. 

 

Webinars:

  1. NHSE Acuity Project Overview – Standardising Acuity Measurements in the ED. Dr Tom Hughes, NHSE Clinical Project Lead. 
  2. NHSE Acuity Project Update. Dr Tom Hughes and Sade Matakitoga, NHSE Assistant Head of Non-Admitted Pathways
  3. How to Assess using FEN’s Minicex for Primary Assessment
  4. How to Assess using FEN’s Minicex for Secondary Assessment
  5. How to Assess using FEN’s ESLE for Primary Assessment Nurse
  6. How to Assess using FEN’s ESLE for Secondary Assessment Nurse [to be uploaded]

Assessment Proformas:

  1. Mini-cex for Primary Assessment
  2. Mini-Cex for Secondary Assessment 
  3. ESLE for Primary Assessment Nurse
  4. ESLE for Secondary Assessment Nurse
  5. Link to FENs Assessment Other Proformas and Portfolio Tools

 

Other Useful Documents

Safe staffing for nursing in A&E departments: the
full NICE safe staffing guideline

Involvement of FEN in the Project

Resources (Education Bundle Required)

The  ED acuity model is a collaborative project led by NHSE, in which the clinical content has been defined by the relevant professional groups together with Lay (patient) representation:

  1. Faculty of Emergency Nursing
  2. Royal College of Nursing
  3. Emergency Nurse Consultants Group
  4. Royal College of Emergency Medicine
  5. Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

FEN had representation on the following project Groups:

  1. Main Project Board
  2. Nursing Subgroup
  3. PEWS Emergency and Unscheduled Care Oversight Group
  4. PEWS Emergency and Unscheduled Care Working Group

We have a series of webinars available to teach Initial Assessment. For those who have previous experience of using other initial assessment tools, there are four essential webinars:

    1. Introduction to Initial Assessment
    2. Primary Initial Assessment
    3. Secondary Initial Assessment
    4. Managing Initial Assessment

For those who have never used or have limited experience of using a previous initial assessment tool in clinical practice, then a more comprehensive education is required. We welcome discussions with Practice Development/Clinical Educator leads for our recommendations on a suitable webinar combination. We can also discuss the option of accredited assessment of Emergency Nurses undertaking Initial Assessment for those who would prefer that additional level of assurance of Emergency Nursing practice

Purchase of a subscription to FEN is required to access these webinars. This also gives access to the rest of our extensive webinar library.