Critical care boosted by £400,000 investment

QUALITY care . . . (above, back, from the left) staff nurse Lauren Green, ward clerk Cath McKler, Alex Crossley, Gill Armstrong, (front, from the left) matron Kay Miller and sister Amanda Jackson will work on the new HDU (left)

A NEW high dependency unit has opened at The Royal Oldham Hospital to treat seriously ill patients.

It has new equipment and two additional critical care beds, increasing the number from six to eight.

The unit has been moved to ward T2 at the hospital following a £413,000 investment by the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital. The HDU supports patients requiring critical care.

The Royal Oldham will also benefit from two more beds in the intensive care unit (ICU), from six to eight, while North Manchester General Hospital will increase its ICU beds from 12 to 14.

Chris Sleight, the trust’s divisional director of diagnostics and clinical support, said: “These improved facilities and changes to our critical care services, both in the ICU and HDU at Oldham, will ensure that we can support the changes to surgical services.”

Kay Miller, critical care matron at the Royal Oldham, added: “The new HDU will provide a purpose-built facility, where staff can care for acutely unwell and critically ill patients.”

In a recent visit to the hospital, Care Services Minister Paul Burstow MP met staff and a patient on the HDU.

The Royal Oldham and North Manchester hospitals will become specialist sites for major elective and major non-elective surgery.

The changes mean the centralisation of inpatient vascular surgical services and transfer of urology and acute surgery from Rochdale Infirmary to Oldham. This is designed to improve the services provided to patients by centralising the skills and expertise of doctors and nursing staff.