Queen’s Hospital Romford to receive £4.1m boost for emergency departments
Queen's Hospital will be receiving an emergency department funding boost ahead of the winter. Picture: Ken Mears - Credit: Archant
Queen’s Hospital emergency department will receive a £4.1million boost ahead of the winter.
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust has received the funding from a £300m government pot to upgrade emergency department facilities.
The trust says it will be spent on providing Point of Care Testing (POCT) as well as expanding the Rapid Access and First Treatment (RAFT) area.
Expanding the latter will improve patient flow through the department, increasing the number of patients who can be assessed at the same time while ensuring two-metre social distancing can still be observed.
It will also help to reduce the time it takes for ambulance crews to hand over patients, getting people the care they need more quickly and reducing the number of people in the emergency department.
Introducing POCT testing in the department, effectively laboratory blood tests performed outside of the lab, will mean patients’ results are immediately available. This is meant to cut treatment delays while awaiting test results, meaning better overall health outcomes for patients.
Tony Chambers, chief executive of the trust, said: “Covid-19 continues to be an issue for us and we need to ensure we can provide timely care to our patients this winter, while also keeping them safe from the risk of infection.
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“This government funding will allow us to reconfigure our department, ensuring social distancing can be observed, while increasing the number of patients we can assess, reduce ambulance handover times, and improve care for our patients with more rapid testing, leading to faster diagnosis, and getting the care they need quicker.
“It will also help us to free up the necessary capital so we can invest a similar amount in upgrading facilities at our emergency department at King George Hospital.”
The upgrade is due to be completed early next year, in time for the winter peak.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC), the body which regulates hospital care, found after unannounced inspections in January this year that the two departments at Queen’s Hospital and King George in Goodmayes Required Improvement.
