The Ambulatory Emergency Care Unit (AECU) is part of the Emergency Services Division at University College Hospital. It is run by the acute medicine team.
The service offers same-day care to patients with acute medical conditions. It is located on the ground floor of University College Hospital in the Elizabeth Garett Anderson building. Its role is to provide same-day access to urgent assessment and treatment, avoiding the need for admission to hospital, for ambulant patients and those needing inpatient-style care. We aim to provide a high-quality day service which assesses and manages adult medical conditions.
Conditions treated with a high likelihood of success in preventing admission include, but are not limited to:
- Low risk chest pain
- Pulmonary embolism
- Pleural effusion (non-traumatic)
- Acute headache (non-traumatic)
- Syncope
- Anaemia
- Mild CAP (CURB65 1-2)
- Newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes
- Hot swollen limb (DVT/cellulitis)
- Jaundice
- UTI/pyelonephritis
- Atrial fibrillation
Exclusion criteria (these patients would be better managed referred to the DMR + medical take):
- Heart rate of >120
- Fever and a cough
- Sats <92% (unless COPD and this is their baseline)
- Requiring cardiac monitoring
- NEWS >5
Patient contact
General enquiries
Service management
Bora Qirici
Other contact information
For any emergencies or advice out of hours, please contact the Duty Medical Registrar on 07970 492 188
Email: uclh.acute.admin@nhs.net
Address
Ambulatory Care Unit
University College Hospital
Ground Floor, EGA
235 Euston Road
London
NW1 2BU
Referral
Other referral information
Phone will be answered by the ACU team and /or the consultant between 10:00 and 18:00. This phone is not held out of hours. Please do not leave a voicemail as it will not be checked.
