Abstract
Background: Benchmarking is important to improve quality of care.
Aim: To audit the performance of Acute Medical Units (AMUs) against the clinical quality indicators published by the Society for Acute Medicine (SAM).
Methods: 24-hour data collection on the 20th of June 2013 with follow-up data at 72 hours.
Results: 43 units submitted data on 1425 patients. 76% of patients had early warning scores recorded within 30 minutes of admission, 95% of patients had been seen by a competent decision maker within four hours. 79% of patients were seen by a consultant physicians within the appropriate period of time.
Conclusion: The difference in compliance with quality standards between UK units opens opportunities for learning. The reasons why some units perform better than others require further investigation.
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