Work is progressing apace on Carlisle’s Urgent Treatment (UTC) which is anticipated to open on March 31, a report reveals.
North Cumbria’s NHS trust secured £12 million of investment for the UTC, using £5.5 million of its own capital.
The new Accident and Emergency entrance on the Cumberland Infirmary site. (Image: Supplied)
NHS trust chiefs hope to see Urgent and Emergency Care services ‘transformed’ by January 2027 and Carlisle’s new UTC is one piece of the puzzle.
Providing 12 new consultation rooms, the UTC will abate demand on the city’s Accident and Emergency Department, which saw 78,300 patients last year, more than two and a half times the capacity it was built for.
Doctor Adrian Clements, Executive Medical Director at NCIC told board members last week that the mood at a recent unplanned care meeting was “really positive” and clinicians are focussed on improving how they “manage flow through our organisation.”
The committee is also examining how it prioritises patients, putting them in the right part of our organisation efficiently.
Dr Adrian Clements, Executive Medical Director at NCIC. (Image: NCIC)
Dr Clements said: “Some of the key enablers to make that work consistently aren’t yet in place, so our Urgent Treatment Centre, which is growing and near completion, needs to be fully staffed and operationally active to take some patients out of our Emergency Department and reduce crowding.
“We need to do some work on that, our same day emergency care facilities, they are being built as we speak, they will come on stream later on this year.
“We’re doing lots of work in the background to ensure, when they do fully open, all the pathways are in place. Our clinicians yesterday (January 27), agreed and signed-off how we will work differently in that pathway, so we’ll be seeing this flow of patients from an assessment on our front door, to these new facilities.”
Concept art of the new Urgent Treatment Centre, which is set to open on the Cumberland Infirmary site in March. (Image: NCIC)
A new entrance serving both A&E and the UTC opened on the Cumberland Infirmary site, close to the ambulance bays, on January 28.
NCIC chiefs say that by positioning the two facilities next door to each other, they can separate the major injuries and life-threatening illnesses that need to be handled by A&E, from urgent but less serious ailments.
A critical piece of work for executives at NCIC is to ensure the organisation is fully staffed so that advancements, such as new facilities, can have the desired effect on performance targets and waiting times.
Interim Chief Executive Trudie Davies told the board that she is working with partners at Cumberland Council, Pears Cumbria School of Medicine and MPs to highlight Cumbria as an attractive place to work.