Stepping Hill Hospital has started a six month refurbishment of it’s A&E department to improve facilities for patients and staff.
The £1.2 million building programme will enable the hospital to improve the patient waiting areas, add a new reception area and create additional consulting and treatment rooms.
The new reception in the emergency department (A&E) will make it easier to ensure patients go straight to the area most suitable for their needs, while the new consulting and treatment rooms will help staff to provide immediate care for minor illnesses and injuries where required and avoid long waiting times for more unwell patients.
The A&E department currently provides care and treatment for over 90,000 patients per year. Many of these patients are older and frail, often with complex health conditions, or several coexisting conditions (for example, a combination of emergency breathing difficulties, dementia and mobility problems). When the work is finished, it will enable patients to be seen and treated sooner, with a reduction in waiting times, in particular for those patients with more complex needs.
The department will still be fully operational while the building work is ongoing, and disruption will be kept to a minimum. Patients will need to use an alternative entrance to the department for several weeks later in the year, but this will clearly be signposted from the old entrance.
Funding for the work has been provided by NHS England.
Colin Wasson, Medical Director for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said “Our A&E department has come under increasing pressure in recent years due to the increasingly complex needs of the population. This renovation will provide much needed support to our staff and our patients in providing care sooner and in a more effective environment. We ask patients to bear with us over the coming months, as some small disruption leads to a big improvement.”
Work on the A&E entrance and waiting area is due to be completed in December, with a single storey extension scheduled to be completed in February.