NEW initiatives are set to be rolled out across emergency departments in Bournemouth and Poole as the hospitals adapt to growing pressures.
The onset of coronavirus has seen an increasing and sustained pressure across University Hospitals Dorset Trust (UHD) with wards closed for patient safety, a decrease in capacity and Covid in the community mounting a three-pronged attack on our emergency departments.
'We can't do the same old, same old'
Associate director of operations, flow and facilities at UHD, Sophie Jordan, said: “We can’t do the same old, same old.
“Emergency departments (ED) are for emergencies and we need to be looking at what we can do for the patients that don’t need those facilities.
READ MORE: 18-hour A&E waits and queues of ambulances at BCP hospitals
“It’s going to be a different NHS in the future but it will be better for our patients and care locally.”
UHD is set to roll-out ‘same day emergency care’ areas - known as S-DEC - which will see patients being treated in an emergency setting, with access to medicine, testing and surgery facilities.
“So if you’ve got a complaint they will try and treat you, they will be able to give you IV antibiotics or whatever you need and you won’t even need to go near an in-patient bed,” explained Ms Jordan.
Both hospitals have declared an ‘internal capacity incident’ which means they are “struggling” and the next stage would be to declare a ‘critical incident’.
With A&E waiting times hitting 18-hours last weekend, she said it’s “challenging every day” at the moment.
“We take it on an hour-by-hour basis,” said Ms Jordan.
Preparing for a peak in capacity during the summer months, Ms Jordan said: “One of the top 10 things to do is have a seven day fully functioning S-DEC which I'll be working on with the teams.
READ MORE: Hospitals brace for ‘rising tide’ of Covid admissions in BCP
“And we’ll look to get that up and running as soon as possible.”
With a rising tide of Covid cases as we head towards Easter, Ms Jordan urged the public to “take care” of themselves and only go to A&E when it’s an “emergency situation”.
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