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Emergency Department (A&E) and Urgent Treatment Centre manage adults and children with urgent and emergency health conditions.

You can find out more information below about the service including how to refer and list of consultants.

Service overview

Our new Emergency Department (A&E) and Urgent Treatment Centre opened on 2 December 2018 and you can find out more information about them here. Both are accessed from Mayday Road.

The Emergency Department manages patients of all ages who present with a serious illness or injury. Patients can walk in or arrive by ambulance. 

The Emergency Department is classified as a Trauma Unit and is part of the South West London and Surrey Trauma Network. The local Major Trauma Centre is located at St George’s Hospital in Tooting. Patients who are severely injured or seriously ill always receive priority in A&E.

Emergency services should only be used in very serious or life-threatening situations such as:

• Difficulty in breathing
• Chest pain
• Collapse
• Severe blood loss 
• Signs of a stroke

In these cases call 999, tell the operator it is a medical emergency and a response vehicle will be sent to where you are. This will happen as follows:

• If a patient is suspected of having a stroke they will be taken to the nearest Hyper Acute Stroke Unit (HASU) at St George’s Hospital
• If a patient has suffered a severe injury which will need specialised surgery they will be taken the nearest major trauma centre, for example, St George’s Hospital
• Critically ill or injured children and babies may be taken to a hospital with specialised services for children such as St Thomas’ or Great Ormond Street Hospital
• All other emergencies may be taken by ambulance to A&E at Croydon University Hospital or another local A&E department

Alternatives to A&E

GPs should carefully consider if A&E is the most appropriate place for a patient to go as there may be other more suitable services where patients will receive the care they need in a timely manner, for example:

• Ambulatory emergency care - one-stop acute medical day care unit for ambulatory patients 
• HOT clinic - rapid access clinic run by the Croydon Respiratory Team for patients with COPD to avoid hospital admission
• Minor injuries unit at Purley War Memorial Hospital - a GP-led service commissioned by Croydon CCG
• Minor Injuries Unit at New Addington and Parkway Health Centre - a GP-led service commissioned by Croydon CCG

You may also consider referring a patient to one of our diagnostic services or to our ambulatory care service.

The Urgent Treatment Centre is run by the Croydon Urgent Care Alliance (CUCA) which is made up of Croydon Health Services, The Croydon GP Collaborative and AT Medics. The service sees patients with urgent care needs who can either walk in or book and get an appointment by ringing 111. The service also hosts the GP out-of-hours service for the Croydon area.

Referral criteria

Patients can self-refer to the Emergency Department/Urgent Treatment Centre or may be directed there by ringing 111 or 999.

We strongly encourage GP’s to refer directly to appropriate in-patient teams if they have seen a patient and feel they need an emergency specialist assessment. This allows the patient to be seen directly by the appropriate specialist rather than waiting again to see an ED doctor and then seeing a specialist.

A small number of conditions can be referred to the Emergency Department these include cardiac chest pain and head injuries where a CT scan may be required.

Please note we don’t offer acute/emergency ENT, Max Fax or Plastics on site so these GP referrals should be made to the nearest local tertiary centre.

How to refer 

To refer directly to a specialist team, the GP should call switchboard on 020 8401 3000 and ask for the appropriate speciality. 

The Acute physicians carry a mobile phone and are available for advice on medical conditions, access to ambulatory pathways or access to RAMU. You can find out more by visiting Ambulatory emergency care unit or Acute medical unit.

Contact information

Department Secretary Yvonne Woods: 020 8401 3015

Consultants

Dr Kathryn Channing (Clinical Lead for the Acute and Emergency Medicine CBU)

Mr Christopher Blakeley (Ultrasound and Audit lead)

Dr Oliver Spencer (Higher trainee supervisor and Trust Guardian)

Dr Subhro Banerjee (Associate Medical Director and Simulation Lead)

Dr Mayank Agarwal (Deputy Clinical Lead, Lead for the UTC, Trauma Lead & SIRG chair)

Dr Sarah Horne (Cerner & Governance Lead)

Dr Faheem Obaidullah (Lead for Paediatric Emergency Medicine)

Dr James Eaton (Resus Lead and Rota Master)

Dr Kambiz Hashemi (FRCEM trainee support and Teaching Lead)