Patients across Hampshire and the South East are set to benefit from six new and upgraded discharge lounges, which will speed up access to care and help cut urgent and emergency care waiting times.
- Discharge lounges will free up A&E beds and reduce waiting times for patients admitted to A&E
- New ambulance hubs will increase efficiency by cutting out unnecessary delays and helping ambulances get back on the road faster
The discharge lounges are backed by nearly £50 million of investment as part of plans to improve urgent and emergency care performance and cut waiting lists, with our region receiving £2 million in funding. Four of the lounges are already open including Frimley Park Hospital, and a further two are set to open at Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, and Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth.
Discharge lounges are for patients that have received treatment and due to be discharged, but are waiting for medication or transportation. By increasing the number of beds, chairs and trolleys for patients are awaiting discharge, this will help to speed up access to care in hospitals. It will improve the patient experience by creating more space in hospitals, offering a comfortable environment with TVs, hot meals and discharge lounge nurses to attend to people’s needs.
In total, 42 lounges are opening across the country to provide 439 additional beds, 364 chairs, and 44 extra trolleys in hospitals. There will also be six ambulance hubs opening across the country, which will provide additional urgent and emergency care capacity and allow ambulances to get to patients more quickly.
These ambulance hubs are purpose-built handover hubs which operate almost like a pit-stop, with specially trained teams preparing the ambulance for the next patient. This saves valuable time for ambulances and minimises the involvement of paramedics in preparing the ambulance – thus maximising their time with patients and improving the flow through the hospital.
Commenting, Leo Docherty MP said:
"Whilst waiting times have already substantially reduced from the peak of winter pressures, there is more to do. That is why the Government are continuing to invest in our NHS with record funding in health and care services.
"Upgrading facilities such as those at Frimley Park, will help to reduce the waiting time for patients to be admitted from A&E, while offering patients a more comfortable environment to recover in while waiting to leave hospital."
Sarah-Jane Marsh, NHSE National Director of Integrated Urgent and Emergency Care, said:
“The hard work of health and social care teams across the country has meant we have seen improvements in ambulance response times and A&E performance since December, despite the impact of seasonal viruses, industrial action, and higher than usual bed occupancy.
“These dedicated spaces, alongside the range of actions we have outlined in our urgent and emergency care recovery plan, including thousands of new beds, hundreds of new ambulances and measures to help treat more people in the community, will help us further improve patient experience and help avoid unnecessary hospital admissions ahead of next winter.”