University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust has opened a new ‘pre-transfer unit’ to help free up more capacity for patients, as the health sector continues to battle bed blocking and patient flow issues.
The new permanent facility hosts 10 beds which the trust hope can support its pledge to cut ambulance waiting times and follows the opening of two temporary units last December with the same end-goal.
Patients are also expected to benefit from an enhanced experience, with the dedicated teams – led by Matron Wendy Allibone – delivering tailored support for those being transferred, as a result of the infrastructure change. Wendy indicated that the team’s ultimate vision is to make patients as comfortable as possible and have exceptional communication with both patients and relatives.
Trust Medical Director, Andrew Furlong, said: “We have been working for a number of months on the installation of the new pre-transfer unit and I’m grateful to the many colleagues at UHL who have worked to make this a reality.
“With the additional capacity the unit brings, we will be able to get ambulances back onto the road quicker, more consistently. That has been our number one priority this Winter.
“We hope having a dedicated team supporting patient’s to move to their next destination of care will also improve the patient experience, which we know has been particularly challenging this winter due to high attendance to our emergency department.”
Local health leaders are also considering further adjustments to University Hospitals of Leicester’s clinical services for next winter.
To read more about how the health sector can, and is, battling bed blocking and backlog, read the latest edition of the National Health Executive online magazine.
