Hospital’s A&E department extension to have isolation suite

AN EXTENSION at Morriston Hospital’s A&E department has been proposed to deal with patients suffering extreme cases of infection.

The decontamination area and isolation suite would be created by filling in part of the department’s canopy section and rearranging internal space.

The area created would also have what planning documents described as major incident storage.

An Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board spokeswoman said: “We plan to reconfigure a room and adjoining space in the emergency department to create an isolation suite for patients with, or suspected of having, serious airborne infections such as tuberculosis. As airborne infections can spread easily, this suite will help us to keep patients and staff safe and ensure patients receive the specialist treatment and care they need as quickly as possible.”

Morriston’s A&E department is one of Wales’ busiest, but stubbornly struggles to get near the 95% target for patients to spend less than four hours from arrival until admission, transfer or discharge. The figure for April this year was 63.5% – slightly higher than two A&E departments in north Wales but well below the Wales-wide average of 80%.

A £5.6m Morriston A&E project, completed in 2012, created a front extension to enable patients arriving by ambulance to be assessed more quickly.

The work also provided an improved triage area and a larger children’s A&E section with its own waiting area.

In a separate development, the Swansea hospital is to lead a new region-wide major trauma network treating patients with life-changing injuries.

It has been designated a major trauma unit, a notch down from the major trauma centre status it coveted, which eventually was given to Cardiff’s University Hospital Wales.