Time to Stop Talking and Start Acting - New AlliancE to Cut the Queues at A&E

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the College of Emergency Medicine have formed an alliance to reduce injuries and relieve the pressure gripping Accident and Emergency departments.

RoSPA, the UK's family safety charity, and the College, which works to ensure high quality emergency care, have committed jointly to highlight the problem of people who have suffered preventable injuries attending A&E. Their partnership will be known as the AlliancE.

There are 21million A&E attendances across England each year, with accidents being a principal cause.

Among their work together, the two organisations will take forward a project on data collection, seeking to bring about the introduction of standardised A&E attendance data to highlight the burden of accidents on emergency care. This project will also involve the reintroduction of detailed accident causation data, based on a sample of hospitals, enabling the targeting of preventative action and filling the hole left by the Government's closure of the UK's world-leading Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance Systems in 2002.

The AlliancE will demonstrate the causal link between prevention and treatment, linking RoSPA prevention campaigns directly to the consequences of unintentional injury. A&E practitioners will give real-life examples of their work, and victims will describe the circumstances of their injuries, with some suggestions of how these might have been avoided. By linking the whole process together, the AlliancE will be able to create a much greater impact on the public than traditional messaging methods.

Tom Mullarkey, RoSPA chief executive, said: “The A&E crisis is not going away. We cannot sit idly by, simply listening to the rhetoric and watching more money being pumped into the system, but seeing no change coming about. It's time to start acting. By working closely with the College, we will be combining prevention and treatment angles for the first time. With 1 in 40 of us likely to die in an accident and 1 in 10 receiving at least one serious injury during our life, it's clear that action is needed. The good news is that accident prevention is relatively easy and inexpensive to deliver, and produces fast results - something that is crucial given the current A&E crisis.”

Dr Clifford Mann, College of Emergency Medicine president, said: “With RoSPA, our joint commitment is to make a contribution that will not only reduce the number of people suffering the painful and often traumatic consequences of preventable accidents, but will also translate this effect into significantly reduced pressure on our struggling A&E departments. This will mean doctors and nurses can concentrate on helping patients experiencing life-threatening health problems, improving the service for everyone involved.”

Other elements of the AlliancE will be a regular programme of top-level events and communications, highlighting the benefits of bringing together the prevention and treatment communities, plus a focus on key accident issues throughout the year.

RoSPA's mission is to save lives and reduce injuries
Patron: Her Majesty The Queen
Registered Charity, No. 207823 and a company limited by guarantee registered in England, No. 231435.
Registered Office: RoSPA House, 28 Calthorpe Road, Birmingham B15 1RP.
Follow RoSPA on: www.rospa.com; Facebook; Twitter; Blog; YouTube.

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Press Contact:

RoSPA press enquiries: Jo Bullock/Cadisha Brown 0121 248 2045/2134.

Out of hours: 07785 540349. RoSPA has an ISDN studio.

To speak with a spokesman for the College of Emergency Medicine, contact Gordon Miles on 07910 248393 or email gordon.miles@collemergencymed.ac.uk.

Tom Mullarkey, RoSPA chief executive, and representatives of the College are available for interview.