I am delighted to report that Kettering General Hospital is launching a four month refurbishment of its A&E department to improve facilities for patients and staff.
The £450,000 work programme will enable the hospital to put in an improved private waiting area for children along with additional consulting and treatment rooms.
It is an interim measure aimed at improving the A&E department’s capacity and durability in advance of the Trust’s multi-million pound plans to develop a brand new Urgent Care Hub on the site by 2022.
Work includes:
- Two new treatment bays – which can also be used as space for seating four patients – to help improve flow from ambulances into the Trust’s A&E majors unit and to discharge. This involves the conversion of an existing store and doctor’s office.
- Two new consulting rooms – This will involve the conversion of two outpatient offices into A&E consulting rooms. This boosts the number of A&E consulting rooms from 10-12
- A new enclosed Paediatric Waiting Area – to be built within the existing waiting area for A&E and the fracture clinic. This will be fully enclosed and will help improve the waiting environment for children and their parents who have previously had to wait in mixed waiting areas
- A refurbished A&E reception area – the current area will be moved back and remodelled with a glassed in area to give more privacy for new arrivals and a layout which gives improved views for clinical staff of patients in the waiting area
- Improving a staff rest area – by adding in kitchen facilities so that staff are able to have better quality breaks during the working day
- Refurbishing a quiet room – to improve the environment in a room used for sensitive conversations – sometimes with bereaved families.
Work commenced on April 9th and will continue into July. Although this may cause some inconvenience I am sure we can all agree that an enhanced patient experience is an exciting prospect.