Celebrating our new UTC
We proudly opened our brand-new Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) at University Hospital Lewisham yesterday, marking a significant step in improving care for our patients.
The new UTC, which incorporates both Urgent Care and GP Extended Access, can be found in a purpose-built area behind patient transport. Opening it means that we can see our patients with more minor or non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses in a dedicated space away from our most seriously poorly patients. Both areas now have greater improved footprints which help us ensure that our patients are seen in the right place by the right team members more quickly.
The opening was celebrated by the Emergency Department Teams and the Project Team, led by Sarah Lacey, who have worked together over the last few months to deliver this project at pace in order to open it in March. It is a major step forward in our vision to have ED pathways at UHL that allow us to promptly stream patients to the right service, improving their experience with us and improving our four-hour wait performance.
The team were joined by our Executive Team, including our Chief Executive, Ben Travis, and Harry Bright, Non-Executive Director, to formally open the department. General Manager for A&E, SDEC and Acute Medicine, Rebecca Mills, officially cut the opening ribbon before Dr Elaine Harding, Clinical Director for Emergency Medicine at UHL cut a celebratory cake, which was duly served by our Division Medical Director, Dr Belinda McCall.
In his speech Ben expressed his thanks to the team for turning the project around so quickly. He said: “Starting today, this UTC is going to make a big difference for our patients, in both turning people around quickly here and helping us to decompress majors. A huge thank you from me to everyone involved in getting us here today.”
Rebecca Mills, explained: “I was truly honoured to cut the ribbon and open our new UTC today after everyone’s hard work. I am feeling very humble and excited to get the unit in full swing.”
After months of planning and hard work, we were able to welcome our very first patient to the new unit. Oliver Murray, who is 24 and lives in Blackheath. He was referred to the UTC with a damaged knee after coming to ED for help. He arrived to a huge cheer and round of applause from Team LGT – much to his surprise!
His mum Katie Murray explained that this was not the first time Oliver had been a milestone patient. She told us: “Oliver was the last ever baby boy to be born at Greenwich Hospital and now he is the first patient to be treated here. I feel like it was meant to be. He’s NHS famous.”
Oliver (pictured below) was seen quickly by the team and, after a precautionary X-ray, was able to leave with a care plan to help his recovery. As the first of many patients (we expect to see 185 every day in the new UTC) we wish Oliver a speedy journey back to full fitness.
