Emergency admissions to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital (RBH) became more streamlined in May as the new Acute Medical Unit (AMU) opened its doors to direct patient admissions.
The new unit means that patients who are referred to the hospital by their GP will be brought directly to the unit either by car or ambulance. They will be seen by one of the medical team to have their initial investigations and treatment started on the unit.
The Trust became a national leader in establishing the Acute Medicine speciality under the leadership of Consultant Tanzeem Raza, when it opened an Acute Admissions Unit (AAU) in 1997. The speciality deals with the immediate and early treatment of adult patents who come into hospital as emergencies.
The AMU looks after very unwell patients who have a range of medical conditions that are clearly too unwell to be managed at home. This could be anything from pneumonia and meningitis to angina and cancer.
The ability of the AMU to take direct referrals from the local GPs means that patients receive high quality care from a team of experienced healthcare professionals in an appropriate environment - so they get the right decision about their care at the right time.
The unit, which has 42 beds and ten new monitored assessment beds, will have at least 50 patients passing though a day. More than 40 per cent of patients will go home directly from the unit after their initial assessment, usually within 72 hours.
Come along to the Trust’s first ever Acute Medicine Awareness Day event on Wednesday 20 June, in the atrium (at RBH) to talk to a member of the team and find out more about the new unit and acute medicine.
Understanding Health, Understanding Osteoporosis Neil Hopkinson, Consultant Rheumatologist 25th June, 2012 at 11am This event will take place at: The Village Hotel (opposite the Royal Bournemouth Hospital) Open to all. Health talks are very popular so booking is essential. Please phone 01202 704271 or email events@rbch.nhs.uk providing details of your name, how many places you would like to reserve and your telephone number.
Facebook/Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals
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