Emergency Floor development gathers pace

An artist's impression of the new Emergency Floor.

A £20 million scheme to create an Emergency Floor on the ground floor of Lambeth Wing and East Wing at St Thomas’ Hospital reaches a major milestone this week.

The development will improve the care of emergency patients by transforming not only the Emergency Department (A&E) but also the wards which patients are admitted to from A&E when they need hospital treatment.

As part of the scheme, our children’s Emergency Department (A&E) – which is based at St Thomas’ – is moving to a temporary location on the Emergency Floor on Thursday 30 July.

In addition, there will be a number of other moves this week:

• Acute medical wards at St Thomas’ (currently located on Victoria Ward and Sarah Swift Ward) are moving to the Emergency Floor and will be renamed the Admission Ward.
• Emergency Department (A&E) registration, initial assessment and main waiting area move to a new temporary location on the Emergency Floor.
• Emergency Department (A&E) pedestrian entrance moves to a temporary location next to the current entrance – external access from Lambeth Palace Road will be maintained.

The £20 million Emergency Floor development includes not only a bigger and better A&E department for patients with serious and life-threatening conditions but also an expanded Urgent Care Centre where patients with less serious conditions can be treated by GPs and emergency nurse practitioners.

This major investment is bringing together emergency services in a single area of St Thomas’ Hospital in order to improve not only the quality, safety and efficiency of care but also the overall experience of patients requiring emergency treatment.