A fit-for-purpose and much-needed expanded work space within the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (SCGH) emergency department (ED) has been completed in time for the 2020 flu season.
The $900,000 expansion has seen the creation of a dedicated infectious disease isolation room and additional treatment areas within the ED. The new negative pressure isolation room enables suspected infectious patients, including influenza and COVID-19 presentations, to be assessed and treated in a controlled clinical environment, to further protect other patients and staff within the ED.
The renovation includes a new five-bed 'Fast Track Area'. The new Fast Track is a high demand treatment zone for ambulant, low-complexity patients within triage categories four and five, and includes an additional room for ultrasound procedures.
To help ease pressure, the Fast Track Area is expected to take about 20 per cent of patients that would normally go through the ED.
SCGH ED currently handles more than 71,000 annual presentations, equating to an average of 6,000 patients each month.
As stated by Health Minister Roger Cook:
"This expansion will enable our ED staff to better manage patient flow and has ability to 'zone' areas within the emergency department to separate patients who may have infectious diseases from other patients.
"The new negative pressure isolation room provides for the safe treatment of patients and added protection of others who are in the emergency department.
"The Fast Track Area will now have five new beds to treat patients which will help ensure these patients are able to be seen without entering the main ED department, keeping those bays for the treatment of more complex patients."
