STRUCTURE: The first stand-alone children’s emergency department in the South East has opened at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton and Hove.
The unit will be officially opened on 31 January.
Previously, children have been treated within the adult A&E at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, which is also part of Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Children’s charity Rockinghorse and local business Gingerman Restaurant Group have both contributed donation to the new unit.
Trust chief executive Duncan Selbie said: “Each day around 50 children come into our A&E. Having listened to parent stories about bringing their children to the adult department and the impossibility of protecting them from the sights and sounds of a busy adult A&E, which are definitely more than PG-rated, we decided to transfer our young patients to a more appropriate paediatric setting.”
Young patients in the new A&E are assessed and cared for within 15 minutes of arrival by a paediatric nurse. There is also a six-bedded observation unit adjacent to the new A&E.
The new department’s 39 staff includes six consultants, one nurse consultant and 10 paediatric nurses.
Source
Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust press release (attached, right)
Source date
31 January 2012
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