Attendance of Babies and Children Attendance (aged 0-4) to West Middlesex University Hospital A&E Survey Report

Project Background

We set up this project to understand the behaviours and barriers that lead parents and carers to choose urgent and emergency care for young children. We also wanted to understand why primary care options, such as GP appointments, are not always accessed first.

We aimed to identify where engagement and referral processes could be improved to help families reach their GP more easily, and to look at how communication and signposting around services like NHS 111, pharmacies, and out-of-hours GP support could be strengthened. By hearing directly from parents and carers, we wanted to highlight what changes would help families feel more confident and informed when seeking care for their 0–4-year-olds.

As part of this project, we looked to raise parents’ awareness of the out-of-hours appointments available across all five PCNs (Primary Care Network)in Hounslow.