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PRESS RELEASE: 21 November 2005

Addenbrooke's A&E ambulance courtyard gets a facelift

The ambulance arrival courtyard outside Addenbrooke's Hospital's A&E department is getting a 'facelift' to allow the next phase of construction in the exciting new Emergency Assessment Unit project.

This means that from Monday 21 November 2005, the A&E ambulance courtyard will close to all traffic until the end of February 2006, and new arrangements have been made for access to A&E.

"We are asking patients and visitors to bear with us during the construction work," said Brenda Hennessy, Director of Administration. "This is a really exciting project to improve facilities for emergency care at the hospital and will be worth the hard work we are putting in now.

"We are also asking patients to think about whether A&E is the right place for their problem. Unless they or the relative they are caring for is seriously ill or has been involved in an accident, they should consider using the other services provided in the community for them. These include seeking advice from their pharmacist, going to their GP, using CAMDOC, the out-of-hours GP service, visiting the Minor Injuries Unit in Ely, or calling NHS Direct on 0845 46 47."

Temporary arrangements for accessing A&E

Whilst the ambulance courtyard is closed:
• access for all patients into A&E will be via the front entrance on the main drive
• the six ‘drop-off’ bays outside the front of A&E will be re-assigned for the exclusive use of ambulances only
• patients will be able to use relocated ‘A&E drop-off’ bays on the main drive outside outpatients
• the disabled parking bays outside A&E will be suspended for the duration of this work
• the ground floor of car park ‘F’ has been allocated for blue badge holders
• if the blue badge holder is the passenger in the vehicle and not the driver, please drop the passenger off and park in one of the designated patient and visitor car parks to allow more spaces for a disabled driver
• the Addenbrooke’s shuttle bus will continue to serve bus stop ‘E’ adjacent to the main entrance
• pedestrians will be unaffected by this work

An exciting new project to re-organise emergency care
Addenbrooke’s currently has two ‘front doors’ for emergencies - the Accident and Emergency department and the Medical Assessment Unit (MAU), situated at opposite ends of the hospital.

The new EAU will provide one ‘front door’ for patients where they will be assessed by an integrated multi-professional team including doctors, nurses and other staff who will make early decisions about treatment and care. This will enable us to decide whether patients can be discharged, managed within the new unit or need a specialist opinion of possible admission to the main hospital.

Every year the hospital treats more and more emergencies. To keep pace with this increase, and to concentrate emergency facilities in one place, the new four-storey Emergency Assessment Unit will be built beside and incorporating the existing A&E department.

This phase of construction will involve the re-modelling of the ambulance courtyard so that it can handle more ambulances and the expansion of the canopy. Within the building, the A&E reception is being enlarged to provide more reception points and the waiting area is being expanded to cater for increased activity.

The unit is planned to open in early 2006.

ends

For further information, please contact Emma Oram, Press Officer
PR & Communications, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ
Tel: 01223 274 433 Fax: 01223 257 143 Email: emma.oram@addenbrookes.nhs.uk

For further press/media information contact: PR & Communications Department, Box 53, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ; Tel: 01223 274 433; Fax: 01223 257 143; Minicom: 01223 274 604.