The first steps in the construction of Withybush Hospital's new state-of-the-art £8.75m Emergency & Urgent Care Centre are due to be taken this week with the temporary relocation of the hospital's Accident and Emergency Department. The transfer of the current A&E to the former Outpatients Department will pave the way for the main construction work on this multi-million pound project to begin in July. The temporary A&E building will be accessed via a new entrance to the left of the old one and will be clearly signposted. This larger facility, which will be in use for around 18 months, has been extensively refurbished and will include: • Five private treatment rooms for patients with minor injuries and ailments • Two 'Out of Hours' doctor's consulting and treatment rooms • Two dedicated waiting rooms for the GP 'Out of Hours' service and minor injury/ailment patients • A new ambulance entrance for emergency patients with access to the existing emergency department resuscitation and treatment rooms • A new 'plaster' room • A children's play area • There will also be allocated drop-off zones for patients, parking zones for emergency vehicles and a limited number of dedicated patient parking spaces. The Out of Hours GP service will also be co-located with Accident and Emergency services, representing the first steps in integrating health, social and voluntary services under the name of Urgent Care Pembrokeshire in line with the all-Wales Delivering Emergency Care Strategy. Said the Director of Operations for Acute and Community in the Hywel Dda NHS Trust (Pembrokeshire), Mrs. Mags Barnaby: "These temporary A&E facilities are a great improvement and will help to improve access and reduce waiting times further. It will now be very exciting to see the main construction work finally begin on a state-of- the-art Emergency and Urgent Care Centre for Pembrokeshire as part of our four-year plan to deliver £39m worth of improvements at Withybush Hospital." The development is being led by Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust in partnership with Pembrokeshire Local Health Board, Pembrokeshire County Council, Pembrokeshire Association of Voluntary Services, Welsh Ambulance Trust, Pembrokeshire Community Health Council and Welsh Health Estates.
