Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
PREPARED FOR WINTER
Centre in focus as winter tightens grip
The emergency department at Monklands Hospital has a specialist team in place to help ensure patients are treated as efficiently as possible as it gears up for the busy winter period.
Its React centre – standing for Rapid Emergency Assessment Care Team – means patients ’first contact is with a consultant and aims to ensure that they have shorter journeys through the department.
Dr Gordon McNeish, the clinical lead for emergency medicine, told the Advertiser: “It’s contributed to performance improvements meaning that more patients are seen and discharged in four hours.
“We’ve been running React for the past year and during this winter will be increasing the operating hours – it’s normally 12pm-8pm Monday to Friday, but in winter it will be staffed earlier, later and over the weekend.
“There’s increased demand in the department in winter, and running the React area helps with triage, having extra key staff and in trying to identify increases in demand and to plan for that.”
Monklands’accident and emergency staff saw an unprecedented 302 patients last Tuesday, December 4, as the first ice of winter hit in conditions described as being“like a skating rink” and causing an attendant increase in injuries.
Dr McNeish said: “There was an increase in slips and falls as people were caught out by the challenging winter conditions, and we’ve definitely started to see the effects. When winter comes there’s an increase in respiratory illnesses and an increased volume of patients as people become sicker.
“On a typical morning in the emergency department, there will be several patients waiting to be seen as the night shift is always a lot busier; there can be a lot of patients who are sicker and need increased nursing time.
“Flu and winter can cause a lot of significant pressures on the site and department – and having our site command centre and plans for staff travel during difficult weather will help.”