Following her hard work to help secure early release of Government money to be injected into local hospital services, MP for Redditch County, Rachel Maclean, has expressed her delight at news the Department of Health has approved an application for £3m to fund work to improve patient flow at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
The cash, announced earlier this week, will allow the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to construct a link bridge between the main Worcestershire Royal and the second floor of the Aconbury East building. Planning is at an advanced stage and an anticipated eight-month build programme will begin in April.
Rachel said: “I’m surprised that this hasn’t received wider coverage, which is why I’m telling everyone about it. It’s extremely good news for patients here. I’ve campaigned for the Trust to be able to access part of the money so there isn’t any further delay to work starting, so this is indeed a good day for the people of Redditch.”
The bridge will alleviate pressure faced during the winter months by allowing staff to move beds between the two buildings, and will make it much easier and quicker to move patients from one part of the Worcester site to another, helping to improve flow and making a significant contribution to planning for next winter.
Rachel added: “I don’t want to see patients waiting on trolleys or in ambulances because they cannot be admitted into the hospital or A&E. And that has largely been because of the pressure on discharge beds from the emergency treatment areas of the hospital. Making flow through the hospital more efficient means frontline services will have more capacity to treat more patients. As Redditch patients are treated in Worcester, this will see a great improvement for us.
“As a local resident myself, and a user of the NHS for me and my family, I want better services for us all and I won’t rest until all this funding is delivered, and the improvement program complete. And I won’t stop fighting for our Trust to be the best it can be - we’ve been let down in the past for far too long.
“Moreover, funding for the bridge is part of the £29.6 million capital funding application by the Trust which will see improvement works at both hospitals, so the fact this money has been released early is a down-payment guarantee the rest will follow.”
