EC Companion

Groote SchuurGroote Schuur Emergency Centre

What do you need?

Searches the door rules, referrals, bookings, clinics, suburbs, key numbers, the handbook and the glossary. Press / to jump here from anywhere.

Right now

Rules that depend on the time of day, worked out for this moment.

Go to

Shortcuts to the common jobs.

What this is, and its limits

A working reference for anyone on shift in C15. It gathers the unit's SOPs, flow documents and the 2026 orientation pack into one searchable place, with two tools: a deferral check and an escalation level check. Decisions stay with you.

  • Don't type patient names or folder numbers. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere. Only your view choice and checklist ticks are kept, on this device.
  • The red-flag lists in the deferral check are drafts that need EC consultant sign-off.
  • The escalation thresholds come from the 2021 SOP, written for the old unit with 39 staffed bays.
  • The outpatient clinic list dates from March 2022. Phone numbers and hours may have changed.
  • When an SOP changes, this is wrong until someone updates it. The Sources list under Reference shows what it was built from.

Start here

For anyone new to C15. Everything here comes from the 2026 orientation pack and the unit's SOPs.

Before your first shift

Ticks are kept on this device only.

Your shift

Who to ask

How a patient moves through C15

    The areas

    Rules that catch new staff out

    Each one opens the handbook entry behind it.

    Next

    Sources: EC orientation pack 2026; Sorting Doctor Role; SOP Deferral of Patients (1.3.58, 2019) and the 2026 deferral flowchart; MHCU flow 2026 (draft).

    6 checks to go

      1Clock

      A Green patient can only be deferred within 90 minutes of arriving. Use the time stamp on the clinical notes.

      The SOP counts from arrival; the 2026 flowchart says 90 minutes from triage. This check counts from arrival, which is the stricter reading.

      2Who and what

      Final triage colour (SATS)

      Who is deciding

      How the patient came

      Referred or expected means a referral letter, a Vula acceptance, or a GSH team told them to come.

      3SOP exclusions

      Tick any that apply. One tick means the patient stays.

      4Red flags

      Draft prompts, not SOP. These lists were written for this check and need EC consultant sign-off before clinical use. They prompt your assessment; they don't replace it.

      Presenting problem

      Any patient

      5Where to

      Defer to a primary care facility or an outpatient clinic. The SOP does not allow deferral to another emergency centre.

      Send to

      After hours, very few primary care facilities near GSH are open. A stable Green patient with a chronic problem can go to their clinic the next morning.

      6Do it

      The SOP steps, in order. Tick them off as you go.

      Wording for the clinical notes

      Built from your answers. It holds no patient details. Copy it, then edit in the notes.

      Sources: SOP Deferral of Patients (1.3.58, 2019), C15 deferral flowchart (3 March 2026), Sorting Doctor Role, EC orientation pack 2026.

      Front door

      First point of contact for C15 (Emergency Unit), C14 (Trauma Centre) and C24 (Gynae).

      Sources: SOP 1.3.85 Point of Entry (2023), C15 and C24 patient flow (28 Dec 2023), Outpatients coming for GSH investigations, SOP 1.3.82, EC orientation pack 2026.

      Unit pressure

      Enter the walk-round counts to get the escalation level and the actions the SOP lists. The SOP asks for a walk-round once there are 29 or more stretcher patients.

      Walk-round counts

      Old-unit numbers. The thresholds come from the 2021 SOP, set for 39 staffed bays before the move. Each pressure is graded on its own counts; the SOP also grades every scenario by stretcher numbers, shown as the unit level.

      Summary to send

      When the unit is full

      Sources: SOP 1.3.61 Escalation for Management of Emergency Unit Service Pressures (2021), EC orientation pack 2026.

      Reference

      How the unit works: referring out, beds, tests, pathways and running the shift.

      Built from the unit's SOPs and flow documents: see Sources for the full list and dates.