Final step towards world-class service

City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust took the final step in its plans to develop a world-class emergency service with the opening of its new Integrated Assessment Unit (IAU) in July.

The unit at Sunderland Royal Hospital is part of the trust’s new footprint for emergency care and sits alongside its new adult and paediatric emergency departments.

This is the first time that all front-ofhouse acute services have been situated together within the hospital, improving the flow of patients and increasing the efficiency of assessing, diagnosing and treating patients with serious or lifethreatening emergency conditions.

The 27-bed unit allows patients to be moved out of the Emergency Department and assessed for up to 12 hours before either being admitted or discharged.

As well as beds for emergency patients, the unit also features more single rooms for increased privacy and the same state-of-the-art technology as the Emergency Department. This including centrally controlled monitoring that can move with the patient anywhere within the hospital and automated medicine management controlled by fingerprint.

Dr Martyn Farrer, Clinical Director for Emergency Care, said: “Our new IAU is the last piece of the jigsaw in our ambitious plans to transform emergency care for the people of Sunderland and the surrounding areas. We are delighted to be able to offer patients and staff such a high quality environment in which to work and receive care.

“We already know that the new adult and paediatric emergency departments have greatly improved the experience that patients have whilst in our care and have helped us to diagnose and treat people more efficiently.

“There is growing pressure on emergency departments across the country and we need to look at advanced ways of working to make sure that we are able to prioritise treatment for those who really need it the most.

“The new IAU will help to improve the patient journey from the moment they start their care with us, with world class diagnostic facilities to complement the excellent care from our dedicated staff.”

“We are delighted to be able to offer patients and staff such a high quality environment in which to work and receive care.”