- New unit to provide rapid care to certain emergency department patients
- Helping patients avoid unnecessary overnight admissions
- Designed to reduce waiting times in the emergency department
- Part of the McGowan Government's commitment to improving access to emergency care
A new emergency care unit has been opened at St John of God Midland Public Hospital to provide urgent assessment and treatment for patients initially presenting to its emergency department (ED).
The unit has been designed to reduce waiting times, improve patient flow, avoid unnecessary overnight admissions and enhance the patient experience.
Suitable patients will be identified in the ED and prioritised for transfer to the Ambulatory Emergency Care Unit (AECU) for same day assessment and management.
The unit will enable patients to have:
- diagnostic tests and treatments on the same day;
- avoidance of hospital admission and a long wait; and
- individualised specialist driven medical plan.
If required, patients will return to the unit the following day for an outpatient follow up appointment for further investigations or to review the patient to ensure they have not deteriorated.
The unit includes nine bays and is supported by a multidisciplinary team, which includes doctors, nurses, allied health professionals as well as the hospital's specialised Geriatric Emergency Department Team and Red Hot Foot (podiatry) team.
Comments attributed to Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson:
"This unit will enable the rapid assessment and treatment of emergency department patients - helping to reduce waiting times.
"The unit aims to avoid the situation where patients may need to stay overnight while waiting for test results. Instead, patients can return to the comfort of their home, and then attend an outpatient appointment the following day to find out about tests results and receive follow up care.
"With less patients requiring an overnight stay, this will reduce waiting times in the emergency department and enable more beds to be available in the hospital."
