Local people requiring urgent medical attention are now benefitting from a new combined entrance to the University Hospital of North Tees urgent and emergency care centre.
The new urgent and emergency care entrance, created in just four months, will see all self-presenting patients using a single entrance for all urgent and emergency care services.
Each patient will be triaged on entry before they are placed onto the most appropriate care pathway – emergency or urgent care.
This allows clinicians to ensure that patients are quickly directed to the most appropriate service to meet their needs.
As well as making life easier for patients, the newly remodelled service increases space within the emergency department. The second phase of the work has now commenced which will provide an expanded and improved paediatric service.
Levi Buckley, chief operating officer, said: “The new entrance and remodelled interiors will help the Trust manage the increase in emergency admissions we experience every winter – it will also play a vital role in tackling COVID-19 and longer term, it provides us with increased capacity to help patients.
“I’d like to thank our staff and patients for putting up with the disruption as we carried out the works and to our contractor Geoffrey Robinson Ltd. who worked really hard and kept the whole project on schedule.”
£3 million in government money funded the works.
