Ongoing improvements at Walsall Manor will see better provision for patients who are referred to a specialist unit to be assessed, diagnosed and treated so they can return home without being admitted to hospital overnight.

Phase 2 of the new Urgent and Emergency Care Centre development is underway with the Ambulatory Emergency Care (AEC) unit and new emergency imaging services moving into Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust’s former Emergency Department.

This relocation will provide much more space for AEC patients and will enable greater numbers of patients to be seen. The AEC currently supports up to 40 patients each day.

It also means that as both AEC and the Emergency Imaging Suite will be co-located to the recently opened Urgent and Emergency Care Centre (UECC), patient flow will be improved and closer communication can take place between clinicians.

Ned Hobbs, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer at Walsall Healthcare, said: “We were proud to open our new UECC earlier this year to significantly improve emergency care facilities and capacity and house our Emergency Department (ED), Acute Medical Unit, Children’s ED and co-located Paediatric Assessment Unit.

“Now we are into phase 2 of the transition to bring further improvements to those who use our services with better placed AEC and Imaging services. Patients who have been referred by their GP as an emergency medical referral will be able to come straight to AEC on arrival and be seen promptly by our acute medical and Nursing teams – preventing them having to wait in the Emergency Department. Tilbury Douglas started work at the beginning of this month on the new AEC and the hope is that it will be completed for use in December.

“The emergency imaging suite is planned to open in the Spring of 2024.

“We are working hard to minimise any disruption to our patients at this time but apologise that we do need to carry out this vital work whilst continuing to run our emergency and urgent care services.”

Various specialist facilities are located throughout the new UECC, such as an isolation room for infectious patients, bariatric provision and digital x-ray rooms. All areas have been designed specifically to enhance clinical staff efficiency, provide improved quality of care, improved patient experience, and a much-improved working environment for staff.