Health minister to visit NNUH
Health minister Rosie Winterton will this week meet patients and frontline staff at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital's Critical Care Complex and Emergency Assessment Unit.
NNUH has a hi-tech Level 3* Critical Care Complex that includes an eight bed Intensive Therapy Unit and a 10 bed High Dependency Unit. The minister will also see the hospital's innovative 61 bed Emergency Assessment Unit, the first of its kind in the country and now emulated in many other UK hospitals.
Both departments have been in the frontline of a very busy year that has seen the number of emergency patients admitted to NNUH rise by 10 per cent:
- The Critical Care Complex has seen the number of patients rise by nearly 12 per cent on last year.
- The Emergency Assessment Unit has seen medical admissions rise by nearly 15 per cent on last year.
The health minister's visit follows the recent announcement that NNUH was judged by independent analysts CHKS, a UK Top 40 hospital for the third year running.
On Thursday, Rosie Winterton will meet Dr Saxon Ridley, Director of Intensive Care at NNUH, and current President of the Intensive Care Society, Dr Paul Jenkins, Divisional Clinical Director and current President of the Society of Acute Medicine, nursing teams and patients.
Members of the media are welcome to attend a 12:10 photocall with the Minister in the Critical Care Complex and should report to the West Atrium reception desk.
*Level 3 is the highest level of critical care and is for patients needing the most complex levels of support for multi-organ failure, advanced respiratory support, or basic respiratory support along with support for at least two organs.
Media contact: Andrew Stronach on 01603 287200