Work underway on £9.3m improvement to A&E services to help cope with demand
Nearly £10m of work to allow more people to be seen at a county A&E unit has begun.
The work, expected to take 12 months to complete, will see significant improvements to the facilities at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital's (RSH) emergency department.
A total of £9.3m is being spent on the project, and it is hoped the work will help alleviate some of the pressures the hospital's A&E has experienced in recent years – which have resulted in some of the worst four hour waiting times in the country.
Under the changes the clinical space is being increased and will include a new and improved 'Majors Department' for the treatment of seriously ill patients, as well as a designated 'Emergency Zone' for children and young people, and provision for vulnerable patients.
There will also be a new Clinical Decisions Unit.
The developments come as the controversial and protracted 'Future Fit' reorganisation of Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital Trust (SaTH) services at RSH and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, continues in the background.
Nigel Lee, chief operating officer, addressed the difficulties faced by the current facilities and said he hoped the work would go some way to tackling issues raised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – which still has the trust in special measures.
He said: “The quality of care that we provide to our patients, and their experience whilst they are in our hospitals, is our priority.
“It is widely documented that the demand for the services provided by our Emergency Department at RSH currently exceeds capacity.
“We hope that the improvements we are making to our infrastructure will help us to continue to drive forward our Quality Improvement Programme and help address the issues raised in recent CQC inspections.”
Betty Lodge, Divisional Director of Nursing, Emergency Care Division, said: “As well as great news for our patients, it is also good news for clinical colleagues working hard to deliver positive change, as they will be working in environment that will enable them to do this.
“We would like to thank everyone for their patience whilst the building work is being undertaken.”
The money, which SaTH has secured from the government, is being used for an overall improvement plan, and to help address issues raised by the CQC.
The building work required for the project will take place in four phases over the next 12 months.
The first phase is already under way and will see the creation of a larger and improved 'Majors' zone for those who are seriously ill.
The trust said that patients attending the A&E can expect some disruption during the building works, however it added that all emergency department services will remain operational.
The ED works follow the creation of a new Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) service which opened at the end of last year; a new Fracture clinic, which was relocated out of the ED to a purpose-built facility in the former Fertility Unit last month; and the expansion of the Surgical Admissions Unit.
