Wider group of health professionals should be located in emergency departments, college says

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has urged the government to co-locate general practitioners, psychiatrists, mental health teams, and community pharmacists in all hospital emergency departments in England to help ease current pressures.

Clifford Mann, chairman of the college, is to hold talks with the Department of Health this week to discuss plans to pilot the “hub” model across the country, after record attendances were reported at emergency departments in 2015.

Some emergency departments in England already have co-located GPs to triage patients and to ensure the …