Spotlight on the Aylsham Medical Day Unit team

Our Aylsham Medical Day Unit (AMDU) team are celebrating their most successful month since they opened their doors in December 2018.

Last December they saw a record number of 764 patients, saving the Trust 307 bed days and 380 days in admission avoidance.

Nicola Evans, Senior Sister, has overseen the creation and development of AMDU since the beginning.

Rebecca Williams, Deputy Sister on AMDU, said: “We have gone from an empty unit to helping almost eight thousand patients per year, well over our projected maximum capacity.

“We are a nurse-led service and we accept referrals from all specialties, but mainly from Haematology and Gastro, covering cross-divisional treatments.

“Although our patients attend with booked appointments, we also take same-day referrals from all specialties. This assists with patient discharges, admission avoidance and hospital bed flow.”

Throughout the pandemic the team has been moved many times around the hospital, latterly to allow the building to be used as the Vaccination Hub.

“Despite these many moves we have provided the best care to our patients and continued to grow and develop,” said Rebecca.

“Many of our patients are very vulnerable suffering from both acute and chronic conditions. During the pandemic we have been a lifeline for them: coming to us for treatment has benefited them physically and psychologically during lockdowns.”

AMDU is also supporting our Virtual Ward service that refers all their ambulatory patients who require any hands-on nursing care.

“Our team has been visited recently by Claire Fleming, Service Manager from Portsmouth Hospital. Claire had completed an intensive investigation on NHS improvement and found that we were the only unit in existence that covers the range of services that we do. She was so impressed with our model, that she is seeking to replicate our service in Portsmouth.”

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