$3m for improved ED screening, renal unit
Wellington Hospital has invested in its emergency department to improve safety and better manage patient flow as Covid-19 put more load on an already stretched facility.
The Capital & Coast and Hutt Valley district health boards were spending $3 million from the infrastructure funding they’ve been allocated to boost ED screening capabilities and also to create a new renal unit in the Hutt as Covid became more prevalent.
2DHB chief medical officer John Tait said as the regional hospital’s ‘‘front door’’, the emergency department was vital in managing the flow of patients.
He said with an expected increase of Covid cases, they had reconfigured the ED screening area and created more space for secondary screening of patients.
‘‘As well as increasing our screening capacity, this enables improved separation of patients,’’ Tait said.
Immediate past president of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine Dr John Bonning said ‘‘something’s better than nothing’’ when describing the ED’s improvements. ‘‘They’ve got a prefab out the front to help screen and triage and stream patients to appropriate areas and that’s got to be a positive thing.’’
Bonning said the short-term improvements were ‘‘useful’’ but didn’t address long-term issues.
He said the hospital’s emergency set-up had ‘‘one of the worst access blocks in the country’’ and he backed any investment that would help it function better.
The second funded project from the $3m infrastructure boost was focused on planned care at another facility. Hutt Hospital has created a new satellite renal unit for Covid-positive patients, by refurbishing an unused building.
The building was previously used as a daycare centre and would be transformed into a fourbay unit where renal patients with Covid could receive treatment separately.
‘‘This means these people can still receive care, while remaining separate from non-Covid renal patients, many of whom are immunocompromised and have a higher risk of infection,’’ Tait said.
Work had begun on the unit, and it was expected to be opened by the end of this month, or early April. These projects were part of a wider suite of improvement and enhancement works planned for the 2DHB campuses.
Tait said they had planned to make sure they could deliver services ‘‘safely and sustainably in the Covid-19 climate and into the future’’.
The upgrades were part of a wider ongoing programme of improvements being made by the 2DHBs to bolster resilience and improve care and experience for everybody.
It included new service units at Ratonga Rua o Porirua, work on the region’s new children’s hospital Te Wao Nui, the reconfiguration of existing spaces within the hospitals to improve patient flow, and improvements to the mental health inpatient facility at Hutt Hospital.