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New £7.2m emergency care units open at Scunthorpe General Hospital

New £7.2m emergency care units are opening today at Scunthorpe General Hospital.

The opening of the Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) and Integrated Acute Assessment (IAA) units marks the final phase of £65.2m investment in urgent and emergency care in northern Lincolnshire. The investment has been to provide modern, well-equipped facilities that are purpose-built to meet community needs for years to come.

New SDEC and IAA units in Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital, Grimsby, opened in February, at a cost of £4.4m. Like there, Scunthorpe‘s new facilities are located right by its existing Emergency Department.

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The units are designed to work in harmony, helping reduce demand and waiting times by making it easier for patients to be seen by expert clinicians. Medicine matron, Lisa Norcup, said: “This is a fantastic space, which will be so much better for our patients.

“We have a team of senior clinicians from a range of disciplines based in these units, who are here for you if you’re ill enough to need to come to hospital, but you’ve not been involved in an accident or emergency and don’t need to be treated in our Emergency Department. We can you direct you straight to the best clinician to meet your needs and provide you with the same high levels of care you’d get in the Emergency Department – assessing you, investigating the best course of treatment and getting that treatment started.

“This means that we may not need to admit you into hospital at all and, if we do, it’s likely to be for a shorter time.” Patients can be referred to the new units directly by their GP, 111, the ambulance service, Emergency Department staff, or NHS community teams. This is instead of going to the Emergency Department and waiting to be seen by the specialist clinicians.

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“I am very proud of our emergency care facilities – they are some of the best in the country – and these units here at Scunthorpe really are the icing on the cake,” said Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust’s (NLAG) chief delivery officer, Shaun Stacey. “They look fantastic and have been designed in conjunction with our staff, so that they have the space, facilities and equipment they need to do what they do best.” He gave as an example of this that there are more examination and side rooms than before.

This will allow for better isolation of patients with infectious conditions. “The use of a combination of Same Day Emergency Care facilities and bespoke units where we can assess, investigate, and begin the treatment of acutely unwell patients as part of our wider urgent and emergency care provision, can make a significant difference to the experience of our patients.” Mr Stacey said there had been a 13 per cent increase in the number of people going to Grimsby’s Emergency Department in the last 12 months.

Waiting times had not increased, though, with an approximate 20 per cent reduction in triage time waits. “This is partly because over the past 12 months, we’ve seen an approximate 25 per cent growth in number of patients going through our SDEC service. This combination approach also enables us to get our patients home more quickly than we would if they were admitted as inpatients and we can also be flexible in how we use the space, so that we have additional space available at times of high demand.”



New SDEC facilities also opened in Grimsby two months ago
New SDEC facilities also opened in Grimsby two months ago

Mr Stacey thanked all involved in the project, including construction partners, Kier. Dan Doherty, regional director for Kier Construction North & Scotland, said: “I am thrilled that the new units at Scunthorpe General Hospital are now ready to welcome patients. Kier is committed to creating high quality, modern healthcare facilities and these new units will transform patient experience.”

People who have been admitted to the like facilities in Grimsby include those with chest infections, ear, nose and throat (ENT) illnesses, broken hips, and individuals with high or low levels of potassium, which can cause arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat).

Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe

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