Many Inclusion Health (IH) patients struggle to attend Emergency Department (ED) due to the long delays waiting to be seen, which can often trigger withdrawal symptoms and other issues. To combat this the IH team (IHT) at University College London Hospitals Trust (UCLH) have set up the 987 initiative, so-called because email referrals should have '987' in the subject line to make it easier to find them.

987 is a route for patients to attend University College Hospital's (UCH's) Ambulatory Emergency Care Unit (AECU) for assessment by IHT. This is the same level of AECU service available to healthcare professionals in the community for their patients, but referring direct to IHT who have specialist expertise in IH patients, who often struggle when referred to standard services.

IHT is a service made up of a medical consultant, a Senior nurse, two clinical nurse specialists, and a IH senior support worker. They have experience in IH patients, with a focus on those admitted or that attend ED at UCLH to ensure: safe discharge, identification and, where appropriate, management of the patient's unmet medical and social needs, and onward referrals to inpatient and community services where appropriate. 

Please note: 987 represents a planned attendance and must be arranged by IHT at a time and date agreed with the referrer. To access 987 email IHT at their NHS.Net account (UCLH.InclusionHealth@NHS.Net) with the completed referral form. IHT will book the patient into UCH AECU and confirm the time and date with you (the referrer) for the patient to attend. 

On the day the patient should attend the main reception of ED at UCH, where they are directed to AECU. There they'll be seen by the AECU nurses (usually within 15-30 minutes, as standard for all AECU patients) who perform the requested blood tests and other simple assessments, before contacting IHT who will see the patient at that point to perform a thorough IH evaluation, with a particular focus on the acute issue. From there IHT can arrange same day tests, if possible, or even admission if necessary. 

To learn more about this initiative contact IHT via Service Feedback email address.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusions

IH patients, meaning over 18s who:

•  are homeless
•  use, or have used, class A drugs
•  are on methadone/buprenorphine
•  struggle with persistent alcohol misuse
•  are undocumented migrants
•  have other issues that mean they may have been excluded from good quality healthcare in the past.

How to Refer

Locations

UCLH