New urgent emergency centre to open this summer

No specific date has yet been set for the opening of Ipswich Hospital's new urgent emergency care facility

A new urgent emergency care unit at a Suffolk hospital is poised to open this summer.

Work on Ipswich Hospital's new emergency unit has been taking place for several years.

It is hoped the new department, which will offer a range of treatment for urgent but not life-threatening conditions, will help ease pressure on the existing emergency department.

Nick Hulme, chief executive of the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said the department would create some "really exciting opportunities around capacity".

'Exciting opportunities'

"We're really excited about that great opportunity because we know that the department in the Garrett Anderson Centre at Ipswich Hospital really outgrew its size seven or eight years ago," Mr Hulme said.

"We've had real capacity challenges in terms of physical space to see people and that's led to delays in ambulance offloads and delays in seeing people.

"This new department will create some really exciting opportunities around capacity."

Mr Hulme said the trust had seen a 7% increase year on year of people attending the accident and emergency department.

"Although it doesn't sound like a huge number clearly we don't have the capacity in terms of staff and more importantly beds to accommodate that increase in people being admitted to the hospital," he added.

The new development will have a single front door for all walk-in urgent and emergency patients.

The Trust says this will ensure patients are seen and treated by the right team with hospital specialists working alongside primary care clinicians.

Funding for the development has come from a merger rewarded between Colchester and Ipswich Hospitals back in 2018.

The Trust was awarded £69.3m and about £23m of this has been used for the new centre.

No specific date has yet been set for the opening of the new facility.