Improved performance at University Hospital Crosshouse

Public Health Minister visits new Combined Assessment Unit.

Public Health Minister Aileen Campbell visited University Hospital Crosshouse’s new state-of-the-art Combined Assessment Unit (CAU) ahead of NHS Ayrshire & Arran's annual review.

The unit is allowing the hospital to work in new ways, helping improve patient experience and providing enhanced care across the hospital system.

Since the unit opened in April, the hospital has also seen an improvement in its performance against the A&E target to see, treat or discharge patients within four hours. Over the past three months (April to June) performance has averaged 96.1% compared to 89.0% for the same period last year.

The unit, which operates 24 hours a day, receives medical patients who have been referred by their GP and from A&E and has facilities to assess and treat patients so that only those who need further inpatient care are admitted to hospital.

Ms Campbell said:

“It is promising that University Hospital Crosshouse has seen a steady improvement in A&E performance over the last few months. This is due to the dedication of staff from across the hospital who have worked extremely hard to improve the experience for patients in unscheduled care.

“The creation of the Combined Assessment Unit has built on the good work already underway, which is supported by the national unscheduled care six essential actions programme. This has contributed towards the improved performance in A&E and importantly helped bring down waiting times for patients."

The CAU is part of the Building for Better Care programme, with £27.5 million being invested in ‘front door’ services at both University Hospital Ayr and University Hospital Crosshouse.

Speaking ahead of the visit, Liz Moore, Director for Acute Services, said:

“We are looking forward to welcoming the Minister to our new Combined Assessment Unit. We are sure she’ll be impressed by our dedicated staff and the state-of-the-art facilities provided by the unit which allow us to quickly assess and treat patients in a way that ultimately provides enhanced care for our patients.”

Across the whole of Scotland A&E performance at core, 24 hour, consultant-led A&E sites has been better than elsewhere in the UK for the last 15 consecutive months. To maintain this performance NHS Ayrshire & Arran, along with other health boards are continuing to implement the Scottish Government’s six essential actions which aim to minimise long waits in A&E and assessment units by improving patient flow throughout all areas of the hospital and community.

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