Southend Hospital sets up Ambulance Handover Unit to tackle A&E delays
It means ambulance crews will no longer face long waits outside A&E
An Essex hospital stepping up efforts to tackle long delays at A&E by introducing an 'ambulance handover unit.'
The new unit, which is made up of several temporary buildings, will have room for 12 patients and aims to free up ambulance crews to get back on the road.
It means patients using it will have their hospital care start sooner and it comes ahead of an expected spike in demand over winter.
Tom Abell, Chief Executive at the East of England Ambulance Service, said: “The introduction of an Ambulance Handover Unit at Southend Hospital site will release more vehicles and crews for responding to emergencies.
"It will also help us to meet the challenges of the coming winter months, when we know demand will increase.
“When people call 999 the public expect the ambulance service to attend, units like this will help make sure that we can."
Andrew Pike, Chief Operating Officer at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“We are aware there are challenges in Southend, as the emergency department is quite small and means it quickly gets filled up when there are periods of high demand.
"When surges happen, we want to ensure that patients can get the care they need as quickly as possible and be looked after in good accommodation.
"We hope this extra capacity will help us to do that."