Barts Health receives £1.7million to improve A&E services
Three hospitals run by Barts Health NHS Trust have been awarded over £1.7million to ease pressures on emergency departments ahead of next winter.
The funding from The Department of Health will develop effective streaming services to make sure that patients attending A&E are seen quickly and get the right care.
Whitechapel’s The Royal London Hospital has been awarded £757,554 as part of a second wave of dedicated funding first announced in April’s Spring Budget. In the first round of funding Newham Hospital received £400,000 and Whipps Cross Hospital was awarded £617,874.
In total, the Department of Health has awarded over £75m to 97 hospitals across the country in an effort to support hospitals to admit, transfer or discharge 95 per cent of patients within four hours.
Alwen Williams, chief executive of Barts Health NHS Trust, said: “I welcome this additional funding that will help our emergency teams to more quickly assess patients’ needs and provide safe and compassionate care to all our patients.”
The three emergency departments are seeing record numbers of patients, with more than 400 arriving each day; up to 2,000 more people a year than 12 months ago. Hospitals are using ambulatory care to ensure people are treated quickly without being unnecessarily admitted, as well as working to improve the flow of patients through hospitals to discharge a third of patients home in time for lunch - double the current level.
The Trust is working with local partners, including the London Ambulance Service and commissioners, on an A&E improvement plan in which all parts of the local system work together to tackle increased patient demand, improve the flow of patients through emergency departments, and ensure inpatients are discharged promptly and appropriately if being in hospital is not necessarily the best place for them to be cared for.
Welcoming the recent announcement for funding for The Royal London Hospital, Simon Hall, Acting Chief Officer of Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “We are delighted that Barts Health has received this support. We have been working closely with the trust and other partners, including the East London Foundation Trust and the Tower Hamlets GP Care Group, to improve urgent and emergency care for local people, and this additional funding will enable that to happen.”
Chris Banks, Chief Executive of Tower Hamlets GP Care Group, said: "This is great news. It will make a big difference for the people of Tower Hamlets and for the NHS staff who will provide emergency and urgent care in the improved facilities.”
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NOTES TO EDITORS
Barts Health NHS Trust
With a turnover of £1.4 billion and a workforce of around 16,000, Barts Health is the largest NHS trust in the country, and one of Britain’s leading healthcare providers. The Trust’s five hospitals – St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the City, including the Barts Heart Centre, The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, Newham University Hospital in Plaistow, Whipps Cross University Hospital in Leytonstone and Mile End – deliver high quality compassionate care to the 2.5 million people of East London and beyond.