Early impact of digital triage – King’s College Hospital
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (KCH) became the first London site in the NHS England London Digital Urgent and Emergency Care programme to implement eTriage as an Emergency Department Digital Front Door solution. eTriage went live in October 2025, supporting patient self-registration, digital streaming and triage across the Emergency Department and co-located Urgent Treatment Centre.
Health Innovation Network South London conducted an independent formative evaluation examining the early implementation and emerging impact of eTriage at KCH. The evaluation considered solution adoption, patient and staff experience, operational efficiency and early performance outcomes.
A snapshot of the report can be viewed below. Click here to download the summary report.
Key impact findings:
- 67% of eligible patients used eTriage.
- 93% of patients registered in under two minutes.
- 77% of evaluation participants found the solution easy to use.
- 72 percentage-point increase in patients receiving an initial assessment within 15 minutes.
- Estimated 7,026 staff hours saved, equivalent to 10.4 minutes per patient.
Background: King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
King’s College Hospital Emergency Department is based at Denmark Hill in Lambeth and operates alongside a co-located Urgent Treatment Centre. It provides consultant-led emergency care across a wide range of presentations, including trauma, acute medical and surgical conditions, mental health presentations and critically unwell patients.
The department serves a young, diverse and highly deprived inner-London population and manages approximately 279 attendances per day. eTriage went live at KCH on 7 October 2025.
What is eTriage:
eTriage was designed by eConsult Health and is an intelligent and automated patient triage digital solution developed by clinicians to help NHS Emergency Departments and Urgent Treatment Centres prioritise patients upon arrival. By means of a self registration process, eTriage collects patient comprehensive histories, supports the streaming process and patient flow. It facilitates early identification of sick patients and reduces the general waiting time for emergency treatment, all resulting in improved waiting room safety, improved patient journeys and improved satisfaction.
eTriage is currently live in eight NHS Urgent & Emergency Departments or Urgent Treatment Centres including Homerton ED, St Richard’s Hospital and Chichester Hospital ED, and Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup UTC. There are also with plans to go-live in 10 further sites across 5 clients including University Hospital Birmingham and Aneurin Bevan Health Board.
How can digital triage improve Emergency Department patient flow:
Introducing eTriage allowed KCH to redesign its front-door model from a UTC-led process to an ED-led approach, aligning more closely with Royal College of Emergency Medicine guidance.
Digital self-registration and streaming reduced duplication across registration, streaming and triage. The evaluation estimated substantial staff-time savings while also identifying improved waiting-room visibility and shorter registration queues.
The report describes this as an early-stage formative evaluation: implementation coincided with a change in the UTC provider and continued optimisation of the solution, meaning the observed changes cannot all be attributed solely to eTriage. As the model matures, further operational, financial and patient-experience benefits are expected.
Get the report
Emergency department digital front door solutions: Early implementation insights at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Independent formative evaluation conducted by Health Innovation Network South London, July 2026.