Patients across Great Yarmouth and Waveney are due to benefit from an expansion of emergency care facilities at the James Paget University Hospital.
The hospital has submitted plans for a new Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC), to assess patients who attend with emergency illnesses and conditions that are not life-threatening.
The new unit, due to go live in Spring next year, will give the hospital additional capacity at a time when it is seeing increasing numbers of patients attending our busy Emergency Department (ED).
All patients who attend the James Paget’s ED are triaged, so that those in most need can be prioritised for assessment by clinicians.
However, this means that those with less urgent conditions often have to wait in a busy waiting room before they are seen.
The UTC will help address this, allowing patients to be ‘streamed’ to the new facility where they will be seen by a dedicated team in a more appropriate environment including 10 consultation, treatment and observation rooms.
In turn, the new facility will help reduce numbers of patients in the main ED, including the waiting room, allowing staff to manage more effectively those who need help for more serious illnesses and conditions, to help reduce waiting times.
James Paget Director of Operations Ben Pritchard-Jones said: “This is a really important project for our patients – and for improving the way in which we deliver emergency and urgent care.
“The number of people attending our Emergency Department is increasing year-on-year, which can lead to congestion in the department and long waits.
“By creating an UTC, we can help people get the right care in the right place quickly, while easing pressure on the main department, leading to a far better experience for our patients.”
Once up and running, the UTC will be open from 8am to 10pm, seven days per week.
It is anticipated that one third of patients attending ED will be streamed to the new facility. In addition, there are plans to provide timed appointments at the UTC, where appropriate, for patients contacting the NHS through its 111 phone/online service.
The UTC will be connected to the main Emergency Department via a covered walkway running along the front of the hospital.
Subject to planning permission, work is due to begin in the autumn with the building completed and operational by early spring next year.
