Emergency Day Unit

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