Rochdale Infirmary creates short film promoting range of services

Rochdale Infirmary Urgent Care Centre and Clinical Assessment Unit

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Staff at Rochdale Infirmary have come together to make a short promotional film explaining and promoting the range of hospital services that are provided at the hospital.

The film, which is available on YouTube and will be shown in local GP surgeries across Rochdale borough, covers a variety of clinical departments at the Infirmary.

Departments featured include the Urgent Care Centre and Clinical Assessment Unit, the day surgery unit, the specialist Pennine Rheumatology Centre and the new Eye Unit which transferred from Birch Hill Hospital in January.

In addition, the Infirmary provides a range of outpatient clinics for most clinical specialities and also includes antenatal services and the Early Pregnancy Unit.

Staff at the 24/7 Urgent Care Centre (UCC), which opened in April 2011, are using the film to mark a huge achievement after treating just over 100,000 patients.
The UCC is run by experienced doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners. Staff can treat patients with walk-in injuries and illnesses which don’t require 999 emergency help, but cannot wait for a GP appointment. The centre treats patients from across the Rochdale borough and parts of Rossendale and East Lancashire.

The Clinical Assessment Unit (CAU), which opened at the same time as the UCC, provides award winning short stay care with full range of x-ray, CT scans and blood testing to support doctors and nurses. The 12-bed unit provides rapid patient assessment and treats patients who are referred directly from their local GP, from the community or the Urgent Care Centre. Patients are assessed, observed and treated on the CAU usually up to a maximum of 48 hours. Staff at the unit have treated over 10,700 patients since April 2011.

Many operations and procedures can now be carried out at the day surgery unit at Rochdale Infirmary. The day surgery unit is run by a team of doctors, nurses and support staff and operates six theatres and five treatment rooms.

Around 200 patients a week are treated at the day surgery unit who undergo a range of day surgical procedures including general surgery, orthopaedics (such as feet, knees, shoulders, hands), gynaecology, hernia, urology and gall bladder operations, and some community dental surgery. The unit also provides a pain service and a rapid gynaecological service for women and bladder cancer diagnosis.

In addition to the new specialist Pennine Rheumatology Centre which opened at the Infirmary in April last year, the new Eye Unit recently opened in January offering outpatient and eye day surgery services, bringing thousands more patients to Rochdale Infirmary.

Dr Shona McCallum, consultant at Rochdale Infirmary, said: “Rochdale Infirmary is still very much open and provides a wide range of hospital services and outpatient clinics. Over the last 12 to 18 months we have transferred some services to our other hospital sites as part of local NHS changes to hospital services across Greater Manchester but we have also developed and invested in other services at the infirmary such as the Clinical Assessment Unit and the specialist Rheumatology and Eye units.

“The staff who work at the infirmary in the different departments and clinics are proud of the services we provide here. This film is just one way of reminding and explaining local people and our GP colleagues what excellent services we have at Rochdale Infirmary.”

Sister Lou Harkness-Hudson, clinical manager of the UCC and Clinical Assessment Unit, added: “The Urgent Care Centre has established itself at the heart of our community at Rochdale seeing around 4,500 patients each month. The majority of patients that previously attended the A&E department are using the UCC. To date over 100,000 patients have attended the centre since it opened. It’s a great service provided by great staff.”

Rochdale GP, Dr Lynn Hampson and clinical lead for NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said: “The success of the urgent care centre is just one example of the partnership working between the local commissioners and The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to help drive improvements in healthcare ensuring services are local, safe and of good quality.”