ABSTRACT
The Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit or Clinic (EPAU or EPAC) allows efficient and effective management of women with early pregnancy bleeding or pain. Most women will avoid out of hours emergency admission with long periods away from friends and family. In the past, mean length of admission with bleeding in early pregnancy was 3 days. The average length of admission after EPAU assessment is only 1 day. Ideally, the service should run on a daily basis with individualized patient appointments. The appointments system should be accessible to all primary care health providers as well as other hospital departments (e.g. Accident & Emergency). The reduction in inpatient admissions can have significant economic benefits for the NHS.
