Plan to join up urgent care and A&E services welcomed
NHS proposals to ‘co-locate’ urgent care and accident and emergency services at Sunderland Royal Hospital have been welcomed by city councillors.
The Pallion Urgent Treatment Centre is based at Pallion Health Centre, off Hylton Road, near the main hospital site.
Under new plans from health bosses, the hub will move next door to the emergency department within the hospital footprint as part of a drive to improve services.
An update on the changes cameduringameetingofSunderland City Council’s Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee.
Councillors were told the move would allow ‘joined-up’ IT systems while also helping theNHStomanagepressures.
Philip Foster, managing director of All Together Better Sunderland, outlined the details of the changes to the council scrutiny panel.
“The benefits of that move will be to provide one point of accessforthepublic,onefront door, it will continue to support the principles of patients beingseenbytherightprofessional for their treatment at the right time,” he said.
“So the aim will be to have the urgent treatment centre inthesamefootprintopposite theemergencydepartmentso literally people can just walk there rather than, at the moment, having to walk across through the car park.”
When the urgent treatmentcentreismoved,thenew location will be promoted,
new signs will be put in place and advice will be given to people using the NHS 111 service.
The plans were welcomed by several members of the committee, including Pallion ward councillor Martin Has well, who described the IT improvements as a“big positive step.”
Cllr Neil MacKnight, who chairs the committee, added: “I’m very, very pleased to see that we are going to co-locate this on the foot print of the hospital.
“You look at other sites
around the region, such as the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead, where they have got the same kind of setup where you can step up and step down that level of care […] and patient flow is much easier.
“You do have access in a more joined-up way to the different clinical systems so there area number of benefits from that and I’ m very pleased to note those.”
Dr Tracey Lucas, a GP in Sunderland and a senior responsible clinician leading
work to improve urgent and emergency care services as part of All Together Better Sunderland, said after the meeting: “Co-locating the urgent treatment centre right next door to the emergency department at Sunderland Royal Hospital will be a hugely positive step forwards in allowing us to improve the delivery of care to those who need urgent help and improving the overall patient experience of the service.
“Being situated within the main hospital and adjacent to the emergency department means we will be able to ensure patients are seen in the right service more quickly.
“The move is one of many quality improvements we are making across the entire health and care system in Sunderland as we prepare for the challenging winter ahead.
“We are currently finalising these plans and will of course communicate widely with patients, the public and our key stakeholders as we prepare for this important move in the weeks ahead.”