The new Paediatric Emergency Department (Children’s A&E) at St Mary’s Hospital means the IW NHS Trust can now provide young patients a much better experience when they come into the emergency department.
With around 8,000 paediatric attendances each year to the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) and A&E it is important that young patients are seen in a dedicated area that means they are being treated and cared for in an environment that meets their needs.
What’s new
The new area includes an observation area, assessment cubicles and a stabilisation bay that can be adapted to two stabilisation bays if needed.
It also means that the team will be able to support their UTC Team when they need additional capacity.
Flexible space
Young patients often come into the emergency departments all at once so St Mary’s need the room to be able to treat multiple patients at any one time.
This new space has been designed so they can adapt and create multiple treatment areas when they need to.
Smith: Children can be treated in a much calmer environment
Geoffrey Smith (pictured above), Emergency Department Paediatric Charge Nurse, said,
“This is great news for our young patients and Island community. Hospitals can be a really scary place, especially for young people.
“Previously they would have had to walk past our adult resus department which can often be a really busy area and overwhelming for young people.
“The new area means that when a child needs to come to the emergency department they can be treated in a much calmer environment which is really important when you are trying to provide them with the care they need and reduce their anxiety.”
Lawal-Rieley: “Passionate about improving our services”
The Emergency Department Team worked closed with the Estates Team to ensure everything was designed and built with their patients in mind.
Emergency Department Consultant, Dr Thomas Lawal-Rieley, said,
“We are delighted with the new area and feel really proud to be investing in our hospital for our Island community. We now have three to four times more space which is really important when we could potentially have multiple trauma patients in the department at the same time.
“Although we are not a specialist children’s hospital we are still really passionate about improving our services so we can provide the very best quality of care to our community.”
Considering children and adult patients
Susan Barker, Estates Project Manager, said,
“It was fantastic to have worked with our paediatric Emergency Department Team on this project. The new environment has been made much friendlier with our decorative murals, and there is now dedicated waiting area so our young patients can wait to be triaged away from the adult waiting area.
“One of the key project requirements was creating audio and visual separation of the children’s waiting area from the adult section within ED, which we have achieved through the installation of secure-access doors at both ends of the new department.
“The inclusion of wall vinyl artwork in the refurbishment has created a more relaxing environment where children can received emergency care. Similarly if we have a patient who has dementia in our adult area then it can be quite distressing for them to be listening to children who might be crying.”
Designed with nursing and parents in mind
The team have worked hard for two to three months to deliver this achievement, however they have even more plans in their long term vision for the service.
Geoffrey said,
“Before I qualified as a nurse four years ago I used to work as a research analyst, so I am drawing on my skills that were heavily customer experience focused and incorporating them into our future plans for our paediatric emergency department.
“I am also a parent myself so when we are developing our plans I can do this not only with my nursing hat on but also as a potential service user and worried parent’’
Introducing distraction play
Whilst this new environment is a massive step towards improving the emergency paediatric services, the team are always looking for new ways to improve the care they provide.
Geoffrey continued,
“Our next steps will be to introduce iPads to help with distraction play so we can reduce their anxiety and enable our teams to provide treatment more easily.
“I am also a massive Star Wars fan and have some really creative ideas to transform the environment which will not only help make our particularly young patients feel more at ease but also help our teams when trying to assess them.”
Call NHS 111 first
If you are a parent or carer and think your child needs urgent medical attention, please remember to call NHS 111 first, who can ensure you get the right treatment at the right time.
News shared by Isle of Wight NHS Trust, in their own words. Ed
