If you’ve ever broken a bone and used the fracture clinic at St Mary’s, you’ll be pleased to hear that it now has new accommodation. Ed
The Isle of Wight’s Lord Lieutenant, has formally opened the new £700,000 Fracture Clinic at St. Mary’s Hospital, Newport.
Major General White Major General Martin White CB CBE JP cut the ribbon in the new clinic watched by patients and staff. The Lord Lieutenant was on a tour of the Island’s hospital accompanied by Primary Care Trust Board Chairman, Danny Fisher MBE, DL and Chief Operating Officer, Karen Baker.
Lord Lieutenant meets the patients
There are over 8,000 Fracture Clinic appointments every year and 3,900 visits to the plaster room for patients to have their fracture plastered.
The Lord Lieutenant met 6 year old Mia-Ray Penn Price with her mother Sara-lee Penn. Mia-Ray was attending the fracture Clinic to have her right forearm plastered and was choosing the colour of her plaster.
Sister Kathryn Taylor explained how the Fracture Clinic used to be located where the Beacon Health Centre is.
No location bright and spacious
The new Fracture Clinic accommodation, which used to be used for medical records storage, provides more room and is a much nicer place to work and for patients to be treated. With a light green colour scheme the Clinic is bright, fresh and spacious.
Following the opening Sister Taylor said: “It was an honour to have the Lord Lieutenant formally open the Clinic and we were pleased to be able to provide him with a brief tour of the facility. We’re very pleased with the accommodation which is so much better than our old Clinic. A better working environment makes all the difference to both staff and patients.”
Staff in the Fracture Clinic include:
- Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeons (5)
- Sister (1) and Staff Nurses (6)
- Health Care Assistants
- Orthopaedic Practitioner (1)
- Receptionist (1)
Staff have been using the Clinic since September 2009 and one of its busiest times was during the January 2010 snow when over a period of seven days 108 new fractures were seen and 90 plasters applied. This is twice the normal rate.
Other clinics included
Other Clinics which are held in the accommodation include Dermatology, Chronic Pain Clinics and Gastroenterology.
NHS Isle of Wight Chief Operating Officer, Karen Baker, comments: “When we looked at where to build the new GP Walk-In Centre it made sense to co-locate and integrate it with the Emergency Department. That meant that we had to move the fracture Clinic to a new location. We wanted the new clinic to be accessible for patients and close to the Emergency Department and Outpatient Services.
“The old medical records store was the logical choice being on the ground floor opposite Outpatients and close to the Main Entrance to the Hospital and the Beacon Health Centre and Emergency Department. The new Clinic has a completely different atmosphere to it and it’s good to see modern healthcare provided in modern accommodation.”
