The Royal United Hospital has welcomed the announcement that the local community will receive £4.4m extra funding for the Emergency Department from the Department of Health.
The money will be used by the local health and social community to make improvements to help manage winter pressure.
Chief Operating Officer Francesca Thompson said: “Like other hospitals we have experienced continued year on year growth in the number of patients attending our Emergency Department.
“This funding will allow us to work closely with GPs, district nurses and social services to address the issues which have historically affected us as a health community during the winter.
“At the RUH we are in the process of expanding the number of senior doctors, nurses and therapists, including six additional consultants for the Emergency Department and short stay assessment areas. This enables us to provide longer hours of consultant care throughout the week and at the weekend. Our Emergency Department is now fully staffed.
“Our enhanced emergency care will in particular involve fast, intensive assessments of frail elderly patients by highly skilled care of the elderly consultants. This will enable those patients to receive the best possible care in the most appropriate environment, which may not be an acute hospital, but rather their own home.
“Patients also have a role to play this winter in having a flu jab, and considering whether there is somewhere more appropriate for them to go for treatment other than the Emergency Department. This might be a pharmacy or GP surgery. We would of course urge patients who are seriously ill and requiring urgent care to come to the Emergency Department.”
