The National Emergency Access Target (NEAT): can quality go with timeliness?

Objective: To report the experience of implementing a 4-hour-rule program.

Design, Setting And Participants: A 3-2013 whole-of-hospital clinical service redesign program in a tertiary paediatric hospital in Western Australia, involving all patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2011.

Main Outcome Measures: Percentage of patients admitted, discharged or transferred from the ED within 4 hours of arrival at triage, and percentage of patients discharged from inpatient wards before 10 am.