Services

 

Accident & Emergency

The Emergency Department serves the population of Bolton and surrounding districts with an estimated population of 330,000. New patient attendance for 2010 was over 110,000 and shows a typical caseload from a mainly urban population, with several areas of deprivation and an ethnic population of over 10%. The department is part of the 1996 new development and opened in September 1997

  • The ambulance attendance rate is over 25% of new patient workload and reflects a high incidence of acute medical problems, particularly of complex elderly patients.
  • The department admits approximately 20% of new patients and 80% of patients are discharged from the department.
  • 25% of the case mix is children under the age of 16.
  • Planned clinic re-attendances for 2010 were around 4000.
  • It is noteworthy that 21% of attendances are from outside the Bolton PCT catchment area.

The clinical area consists of:

  • 4-bay adult resuscitation room
  • 4 minor injury consultation rooms
  • Main clinical quadrangle with 12 bays for flexible use, two suitable for private examination
  • Ophthalmic/ENT room
  • Mental health interview room - currently the designated place of safety
  • Clinic suite consisting of a consultation room and 2 treatment rooms
  • One room for distressed relatives

The Children's Emergency unit, opened in October 2007, provides an audio visually separate purpose-built area for the emergency care of sick and injured children and young people up to the age of 16.

The clinical areas are equipped to a high standard and consist of:

  • 2 bay resuscitation room
  • 5 consultation rooms
  • 4 observation bays

There is clinical supervision from the middle grade doctors, who are present in the clinical area 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The consultants undertake clinical sessions seven days a week and an on call consultant is always available.

Role of the Emergency Department

  • Immediate resuscitation of the seriously ill and injured
  • Provision of immediate diagnostic and therapeutic care for any acutely ill and injured patients presenting to the Department.