An extension to the Same Day Emergency Care Unit at West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven will open to patients this week (Wednesday 26 May).
The £1.5m extension, which is a modular unit, has been created in order to improve patient care and experience when patients are being assessed to decide on their treatment plan.
The Same Day Emergency Care unit comprises of an ambulatory care area, procedure room and 23 hour assessment unit. The opening of the new extension will see 60-70% of patients being treated and discharged from the assessment unit once they’ve had their assessment and avoid being admitted into the hospital.
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 for 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, the move into the extension will allow for the unit and staff to work more collaboratively with the Emergency Assessment team and provide more seamless care for patients.
Nichola 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 which will enable improved patient flow within our services which is a better experience for patients.
This work is in addition to the ongoing redevelopment at WCH, which will see a £40 million investment to the site in order to upgrade the environment and facilities further to the original £90 million investment in 2015. 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.