Work to improve patient care and safety at Heartlands Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED) will see its new adult Minors Unit open this week.

As part of the Hospital’s improvement plans, the new adult ‘Minors’ area, where non-life threatening cases are dealt with, will open on Wednesday 9 September in its new location next to the ED, previously occupied by the fracture clinic.

Moving the ‘Minors’ area means that expansion work can begin on the ‘Majors’ area of the ED, where the most critically ill patients are assessed and treated. This will assist the Hospital in providing the best possible service for patients.

To assist with these plans, the fracture clinic has been moved to a temporary location on Ward 17 with the aim of co-locating within the therapies department in October.

Signs have been placed at the entrance of the new adult minors and throughout the hospital to direct patients to the new location.

Dr Govindan Raghuraman (pictured), associate medical director at Heartlands, said: “It’s vital that in an area of the Hospital where timely treatment can make a significant difference between life or death, it’s essential that we get the layout of the emergency department right to enable our clinicians to do their jobs quickly and effectively at the front door.

“We are working to improve not only the service we provide in our emergency department, but as a Hospital as a whole. I’m really pleased that we’re now at a stage where we can progress with delivering a much improved emergency department that will benefit our staff and patients immensely. I’d like to thank both staff and patients for their support during this time of refurbishment.”