New unit opens at A&E
A new 32-bed unit built on top of the existing A&E department at Northwick Park has officially opened providing the hospital with much valued bed space.
The hospital trust successfully bid for a pot of money from NHS England to increase general and acute bed capacity as part of the national Urgent Care Plan.
The benefits of the £20m unit include reducing the amount of time patients wait in A&E, improving patient safety, reducing ambulance waits and better managing seasonal demand.
Pippa Nightingale, Chief Executive of LNWH, said: “We have one of the biggest and busiest A&Es in the country so this is a welcome and much needed addition to our capacity.
“It’s crucial to maintain flow through the hospital so we have enough beds for people arriving who really need us. An enormous amount of work goes on behind-the-scenes every day to ensure this happens.
The new unit will help us better manage this and provide high quality care. We also have senior decision-makers on the unit seven days a week which is important.”
The AMU, which has been operational since the end of April, has handled more 1,000 admissions with around 45% discharged from the unit, while the reminder are referred to long-stay speciality beds.
The seven day a week consultant-led service is supported occupational health, physiotherapy and pharmacy teams.