Prince Philip Hospital’s 'Front of House' moving forward
Hywel Dda University Health Board’s planning for improvements at Prince Philip Hospital is moving forward.
A team of doctors, GPs and nurses have been looking at ways to improve emergency care delivered at the Llanelli hospital and enhance the services most needed by local residents during the last year. Work has focused on six different priority areas: alcohol and substance misuse; frailty; mental health; acute medicine (e.g. strokes, diabetes, infections and asthma attacks); minor injuries; and minor illnesses.
Proposed service improvements include a new alcohol liaison nurse to address alcohol and substance misuse issues and a specialist psychiatric team. Improvements are also planned for the rapid access available for elderly or frail patients to an enhanced and expanded frailty service. This will help to identify underlying issues relating to their admission.
The team has worked closely with other local organisations such as the police and social care and has kept in close communication with community representatives including Hywel Dda Community Health Council (CHC) and Llanelli Rural Council.
Dr Sian Lewis, Medical Lead, Acute Services is Chair of the project team: “We are in the final stages of preparing our plans. This piece of work is the culmination of over a year of careful consideration and planning to ensure that the emergency service at Prince Philip Hospital is not only safe and sustainable but is what the population of Llanelli both needs and deserves.
“People in Llanelli are very passionate about their local hospital and we are being very clear that these changes are not about doing less; they are about doing things differently. Prince Philip Hospital will continue to provide an emergency service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
The most obvious difference will be that patients attending Prince Philip Hospital in the future will notice, pending approval, is that the most unwell patients (mainly those attending via ambulance or via a GP referral), will by-pass the emergency reception area and will be admitted directly to the separate Emergency Medical Unit (EMU), where they will have immediate access to a consultant. Patients with minor injuries or illnesses will continue to register at the reception desk before being assessed and treated appropriately.
To enhance the service available for patients attending the emergency department with minor injuries or illnesses the role of Emergency Nurse Practitioners (ENP), senior A&E nurses with a number of years’ experience and enhanced training, will be extended and will work alongside GPs also with extended skills. Both the ENP and the GP will have had extended training to enable them to deal with the wide variety of conditions that might present to the hospital.
Dr Lewis said: “We want to reassure the public that when they are ill, especially with potentially life-threatening or debilitating conditions, they will still access the services they currently have at Prince Philip Hospital. Our planning, such as ensuring the most unwell patients are admitted directly to the EMU, will help reduce time spent waiting to be assessed, allow earlier access to senior clinicians and avoid having to go through the emergency department. Overall, this will result in a much higher quality and more efficient service for the patient and their loved ones.”
The University Health Board is committed to ensuring that the public receive accurate and timely information about the changes.
A team of doctors, GPs and nurses have been looking at ways to improve emergency care delivered at the Llanelli hospital and enhance the services most needed by local residents during the last year. Work has focused on six different priority areas: alcohol and substance misuse; frailty; mental health; acute medicine (e.g. strokes, diabetes, infections and asthma attacks); minor injuries; and minor illnesses.
Proposed service improvements include a new alcohol liaison nurse to address alcohol and substance misuse issues and a specialist psychiatric team. Improvements are also planned for the rapid access available for elderly or frail patients to an enhanced and expanded frailty service. This will help to identify underlying issues relating to their admission.
The team has worked closely with other local organisations such as the police and social care and has kept in close communication with community representatives including Hywel Dda Community Health Council (CHC) and Llanelli Rural Council.
Dr Sian Lewis, Medical Lead, Acute Services is Chair of the project team: “We are in the final stages of preparing our plans. This piece of work is the culmination of over a year of careful consideration and planning to ensure that the emergency service at Prince Philip Hospital is not only safe and sustainable but is what the population of Llanelli both needs and deserves.
“People in Llanelli are very passionate about their local hospital and we are being very clear that these changes are not about doing less; they are about doing things differently. Prince Philip Hospital will continue to provide an emergency service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
The most obvious difference will be that patients attending Prince Philip Hospital in the future will notice, pending approval, is that the most unwell patients (mainly those attending via ambulance or via a GP referral), will by-pass the emergency reception area and will be admitted directly to the separate Emergency Medical Unit (EMU), where they will have immediate access to a consultant. Patients with minor injuries or illnesses will continue to register at the reception desk before being assessed and treated appropriately.
To enhance the service available for patients attending the emergency department with minor injuries or illnesses the role of Emergency Nurse Practitioners (ENP), senior A&E nurses with a number of years’ experience and enhanced training, will be extended and will work alongside GPs also with extended skills. Both the ENP and the GP will have had extended training to enable them to deal with the wide variety of conditions that might present to the hospital.
Dr Lewis said: “We want to reassure the public that when they are ill, especially with potentially life-threatening or debilitating conditions, they will still access the services they currently have at Prince Philip Hospital. Our planning, such as ensuring the most unwell patients are admitted directly to the EMU, will help reduce time spent waiting to be assessed, allow earlier access to senior clinicians and avoid having to go through the emergency department. Overall, this will result in a much higher quality and more efficient service for the patient and their loved ones.”
The University Health Board is committed to ensuring that the public receive accurate and timely information about the changes.
Please visit www.hywelddahb.wales.nhs.uk/yourfutureservices for more information on the plans for Prince Philip Hospital.
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