Queen Elizabeth Hospital launches Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC)

News - 5 February 2024

New unit to help get LGT patients home and avoid hospital admission.

The Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) Unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich (QEH) officially opens today, Monday 5 February. The SDEC Unit is one of the many ways Lewisham Greenwich NHS Trust (LGT) is working to ensure that our patients receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

SDEC allows us to assess, diagnose, treat and safely discharge applicable patients the very same day they engage with our services. This pathway can be used to treat a wide range of conditions, from deep vein thrombosis to pneumonia.

The service will provide our patients with access to specialist care and faster diagnostic tests in an appropriate setting and help get our patients home and avoid an admission.

Patients can be referred to SDEC treatment through a number of different ways, including:

  • Triage in emergency departments (EDs)
  • Internally via switchboard 
  • The ambulatory care consultant via the consultant connect system for GPs.

We are also working towards taking direct transfers from ambulances and referrals from NHS111.

The SDEC Unit at QEH includes the current Ambulatory Care Unit (ACU), Surgical Assessment Unit (SAU) and the Acute Frailty service (AFS).

It is located close to the heart of our Emergency Department in the newly refurbished area next to the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC), which was previously used as the physiotherapy gym.

Following the initial launch of SDEC, we will be continuing work to expand our SDEC services – looking at how we can develop our pathways, extend our opening hours, and expand access into these services.

If you are interested in hearing more information about this new SDEC service, please contact lg.communications@nhs.net.