The £1.5m Emergency Assessment Unit extension, at West Cumberland Hospital (WCT) FT, will be open to patients on Wednesday 26 May. The modular unit has been created in order to improve patient care and experience when being assessed, to decide on their treatment plan.
The Same Day Emergency Care Unit comprises of an ambulatory care area, procedure room, and a 23-hour assessment unit. The new extension will mean 60-70% of patients will be treated and discharged from the assessment unit once they’ve had their assessment, avoiding any additional hospital admissions.
Nichola Mitchinson, Ward Manager for the new unit said: “We’re thrilled with the new extension; we now have a dedicated, dynamic offering for patients with state-of-the-art equipment, which will allow us to build upon the service we were already providing, through the Same Day Emergency Care model.
“Patients will be assessed by a team of clinical decision makers who will decide on the right course of action there and then. We’re hoping this will reduce admissions into the hospital and also allow our staff to be more efficient, due to the reduction in unnecessary admissions.”
The modular unit will also house the Ambulatory Care unit, and allow the unit and staff to work more collaboratively with the Emergency Assessment team, providing more seamless care for patients.
Mr Mitchinson added: “It’s great that Ambulatory Care will now operate alongside the team on the assessment unit. It makes perfect sense for us to work closely together and will only benefit our patients.”
Improvements are also ongoing within the main hospital with the development of a Rapid Assessment & Treatment Room, within the Accident & Emergency department. This will enable improved patient flow within the trust’s existing services, resulting in a better patient experience.
This work is in addition to the ongoing redevelopment at WCT, which will see £40m invested in the site in order to upgrade the environment and facilities, further to the original £90m investment in 2015. The ground work to the site has already begun with building work set to begin in January 2022, subject to final approval of the trust’s business case, expected later this year.
