First look inside town's new emergency care centre

The new Urgent and Emergency Care Centre at Scarborough Hospital cost £47m

Visitors have been given their first look inside the new Urgent and Emergency Care Centre at Scarborough Hospital before it opens in the autumn.

Tours have been held for the public at the £47m facility, which has been built to replace the current A&E department at the site.

Although the new centre will have the same number of beds, it has more floorspace than the existing unit.

The York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said its completion would "transform" critical care in the area.

Dr Ed Smith is a consultant in emergency medicine and the deputy medical director for the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

It has been designed to reduce waiting times for patients and improve the efficiency of treatment.

Dr Ed Smith, consultant in emergency medicine, said: "It's been a long time coming. It's been in the planning and building stage for many years but now it's very close to completion and it's very exciting for the whole team."

The centre aims to process patients as quickly as possible and direct them to treatment.

Dr Smith added: "The key for most patients is to get the answers to their questions as to what's the matter with them and what they need to do to get better, and that's what we will focus on."

The consultant said the way the unit's capacity would be managed would differ from how the department had been run in the past.

"The way we're doing care is evolving all the time, so patients are being managed in a much more ambulatory way. A greater number of patients are being given same day emergency care and they don't need admission.

"The lack of an increase in beds is really driven by the fact that we're caring for people in a different way than we were five, 10 or 15 years ago."

People touring the new centre

The NHS trust's project lead has been Joanne Southwell, their strategic capital manager.

Ms Southwell has been leading tours of the new facility for members of the public and for groups of local schoolchildren.

She said: "It's an absolutely fabulous facility which will support the already excellent care that our staff give, but we've now got the accommodation that supports that care."

Ms Southwell added: "I'm very proud and passionate to open the doors to the public and community that we serve and the feedback has just been overwhelming."