New £3m Russells Hall Hospital unit nearly complete
Work is almost completed at a new £3 million acute medical unit at Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital.
The 'Rainbow unit' will open its doors to patients next month. Seriously unwell patients will be treated to help reduce winter pressures on health services.
The two-storey building is located next to the emergency department and will provide an assessment unit on the ground floor with 22 spaces and eight monitored beds, while the first floor has a short stay ward with 30 beds.
The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust said it was "excited" to say that the unit will open in early November and will be accepting patients within the next two weeks.
It said the new facility will replace the unit currently located near the maternity unit and will provide many benefits for patients including being referred by their GP or brought by ambulance, which will avoid unnecessary attendances at the emergency department.
New patients coming to the unit will receive one single assessment by a medical team to avoid being asked the same question on multiple occasions by doctors and nurses providing treatment.
Patients referred to the ground floor assessment area will be seen, treated and sent home or transferred to the first floor short stay ward if, for example, they need ongoing acute care. If needed, they will be transferred to a speciality ward in the main hospital as an inpatient.
When the unit moves the space left behind will be used as assessment units for patients under the care of the frailty team, cardiology, respiratory, haematology and oncology, and ambulatory emergency care.
Same day emergency care facilities will also be provided on the ground floor.
The trust has also won the planning green light for a rainbow themed monument to be installed in the grounds to commemorate borough residents who served during the pandemic as well as remember those who died as a result of the virus.
