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Hospital programme improves patient care
Progress work at A&E, showing new reception area. 095C
VISITORS to Grantham Hospital will notice a new look and a new experience when they walk through the door of A&E from the end of February.
The changes to the department are being made as part of the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust ‘transformation programme’, which is intended to save money and improve patient care.
Director of nursing and patient services at the trust Sylvia Knight told the Journal about the impact it is having on the frontline.
She said: “Our staff are tremendous in terms of the way they respond to change and the pace at which they respond is phenomenal. The programme means it is so much busier for staff generally but they are really embracing the changes because they want to do things the right way for the patients.”
Changes include the integration of the out-of-hours service with the newly refurbished A&E at Grantham. This means patients no longer choose which service they require.
Ms Knight said: “Everybody comes through one door and then the most appropriate person will see that patient. This will also give them the opportunity to share the workload. It will be using the personnel with the right skills in a much more efficient way that makes the best use of the people that we have.”
As part of the £40,000 refurbishment there will be more trolleys and two more treatment rooms at A&E, which will give staff the chance to see patients more quickly.
Efficiency measures also include a ‘Visual Hospital’, which allows staff to see every two hours the stage of treatment patients are at.
Ms Knight added: “This makes sure patients stay in hospital for as short a time as possible. There’s a clear benefit from this and it’s making a big difference in terms of safer care and reducing stays in hospital.”
The changes will make staff busier so two more administrative staff are also being brought into the trust to deal with information collation.
Ms Knight said: “We want them to focus on looking after the patients.”
Another plan to to save money in the future is to reduce the amount of beds in the hospitals, which will lead to a reduction in staff.
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Weather for Grantham
Friday 25 May 2012
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Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: East
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Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
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Cos_I_Said_So_Alright!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 06:12 PMThat's a touch underhanded, GJ! Try and lull us into a false sense of security with all these positive changes. Don't think we won't spot that bit at the bottom about reducing the number if beds! As if that's what's needed when the hospital already struggles to serve the needs of the community due to cuts to funding and services!
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