TY - JOUR T1 - One year's activity and outcome data from an ambulatory cardiology unit JF - Clinical Medicine JO - Clin Med SP - 128 LP - 131 DO - 10.7861/clinmedicine.18-2-128 VL - 18 IS - 2 AU - Jill Byrne AU - Damian McCall Y1 - 2018/04/01 UR - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/18/2/128.abstract N2 - In 2015, the Belfast Trust piloted an ambulatory cardiology unit (ACU). The ethos of the ACU was to reduce pressure on the Emergency Department by providing a unit where rapid evaluation, treatment and follow-up could be provided by the cardiology team and, at the same time, reduce inpatient admissions to cardiology beds. The service proved effective in reducing admissions to cardiology beds by 13.5% over a 1-year period, while patient outcomes at 30 days and 6 months demonstrated that the service is safe, with only 1.7% of patients readmitted at 30 days and 6 months with the same or a related complaint. The principles of ACU could be adopted by many other specialities. ER -