Extra emergency care capacity to manage winter pressures at Walsall Manor Hospital will be ready for patients from tomorrow (Wednesday 23 December).

The £4.1m of additional space has been created as part of a £300m Government funding boost to upgrade Accident and Emergency and associated emergency care facilities to help the NHS prepare for winter and the risk of further outbreaks of Covid-19.

In Walsall, this funding boost has enabled:

• Additional Emergency Department cubicle capacity to help rapid handover of patients arriving by ambulance in the Emergency Department
• Additional Surgical Ambulatory Care Unit capacity to enhance same day emergency care in Surgery
• Additional assessment unit capacity to ensure timely admission for patients needing admission from the Emergency Department
• Additional Emergency Department streaming capacity and waiting space to promote social distancing

Ned Hobbs, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust Chief Operating Officer and Lead Director for Estates,  said: “This extended space will help us to manage the increase in patients who are coming to hospital with respiratory conditions more effectively and safely.

“We are already implementing our robust winter plan to take us through the simultaneous challenges of usual winter pressures and increases in Covid patients, and this extra capacity is a key element of that plan to ensure we can see, assess and treat patients as quickly as possible.”

Ned added: “I would also like to thank our Interserve construction colleagues for working so hard to complete these vital additions ahead of schedule.”

An additional six Rapid Assessment and Treatment cubicles have been commissioned to manage ambulance arrivals and an additional four Resuscitation cubicles will help to reduce risk of cross infection rates for respiratory patients who arrive at ED.

From Christmas Eve a new arrival point at the front of the Emergency Department will open where patients will be directed to report to upon arrival to the main hospital site if they need Urgent or Emergency Care.  The new arrival point will allow upfront clinical streaming so that patients can be directed to the best pathway for their care.  The additional space will also provide much-needed extra waiting room capacity and will help ensure social distancing and infection prevention controls across Urgent and Emergency Care pathways.