£10.7m Emergency and Urgent Care Centre opens its doors at Withybush Hospital, Haverfordwest (From Western Telegraph)

£10.7m Emergency and Urgent Care Centre opens its doors at Withybush Hospital, Haverfordwest

12:56pm Wednesday 14th July 2010 in

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Withybush's new Emergency and Urgent Care Centre is completely open to the public for the first time today (Wednesday).

The £10.7m unit is Wales’ most modern and up-to-date emergency care unit and will deliver a pioneering model of care, integrating emergency hospital services; GP out-of-hours and urgent social care under one roof.

It also houses the county’s first adult clinical decisions unit, which will allow doctors and nurses to assess, investigate and treat patients prior to discharge home or transfer on to a ward, along with 17 en-suite assessment rooms and two treatment rooms.

Other facilities at the new unit include: a new four-bay state-of-the-art resuscitation centre; see and treat rooms for patients with urgent problems; a dedicated en-suite gynaecology room; in department X-ray facilities; a separate waiting and treatment area for children and a bigger ambulance entrance to serve up to four ambulances simultaneously.

The new facility will also provide two new replacement theatres offering “clean air” technology above the unit, costing £3.4million.

The scheme has been funded by the Welsh Assembly and delivered by Hywel Dda Health Board in conjunction with Pembrokeshire County Council, the Welsh Ambulance Trust, the voluntary sector, Community Health Council and developers Interserve.

Hywel Dda Health Board chief executive, Trevor Purt, said: “The opening of this centre will be a milestone for the new health board, as it demonstrates how we want to develop healthcare services in the future.

“Of paramount importance is delivering high quality emergency services.

“By working with partners to reduce bureaucracy and historic barriers, we will be able to offer patients a more streamlined, accessible and easier to use service.”