THE Royal Bournemouth Hospital's busy accident and emergency department is changing its name to reflect a worldwide trend in medicine.

It is to be known as simply the Emergency Department, bringing it into line with a growing number of hospitals in the UK and around the world. The change - approved at the trust's latest board meeting - will cost an estimated £7,000 for signs to be altered.

Cathy Lakin, senior nurse in emergency care, explained: "Most of the departments in our region and in Hampshire and Wiltshire have evolved to become emergency departments.

"We would like to reassure the public that a change of name does not mean an alteration of service but does reflect the evolution of the specialty. If you have an accident, you can still come to our department."

Back in the 1960s, hospital emergency medical departments were known as "casualty", a name that lingers in the minds of some members of the public and in the popular BBC television series.

By the early 1970s, casualty departments had been renamed accident and emergency, following concern that the old name encouraged casual attendees.

Over the last 25 years, training has developed, and emergency medicine become established as a specialty in its own right. There has also been growing worldwide use of the terms emergency medicine, emergency physician and emergency department.

"The word emergency simply reflects the specialty of emergency medicine," said Cathy Lakin. "It is very similar to the name change from casualty to accident and emergency, and does reflect the changing nature of our profession.

"Naturally if we change the name of the department then we also need to change our signs. The first thing will be the sign outside, which at the moment just says accident department."