A centre of excellence: establishing, developing and sustaining an Emergency Gynaecology Unit (EGU)

Abstract

Emergency gynaecology units are essential to the optimal running of a complete acute gynaecology service in tertiary women’s health. These departments serve to reduce patient waiting times and potentially improve accessibility for women to a dedicated team of specialized nurses and doctors skilled in gynaecology emergencies. They also encourage appropriate patients to be sent directly from primary care and away from general emergency services in addition to providing a direct walk-in service to the local population. Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals Trust has progressed one step further from this having already had two long established “nurse-led” Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU) at Women and Children’s Hospital and Castle Hill Hospital. The service described here has been visited by many other hospitals as a model of optimal delivery of acute care and potentially extendable to other services.