Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2013 | Page 83

FASHION HEALTH & BEAUTY

A highly-successful pioneering method
for dealing with walk-in patient
admissions at St Mary’s Hospital is
on course to provide the blueprint for
many hospitals across the country.
The Beacon Centre at St Mary’s
has already been featured on a BBC
breakfast programme for the efficient
way it deals with admissions, whether
it is a 999 emergency or a 111
non-emergency.
The system has been streamlined to
admit all walk-in patients through the
same department where hospital staff
determine the appropriate treatment
required. Close by the ambulance
admissions entrance again ensures fast
and efficient treatment for patients in
the department which incorporates
not only the Beacon Centre, but
Accident and Emergency (A&E) and a
trauma unit.
The hospital’s A&E department
has recently been revamped and
remodelled to make it not only larger,
but to help provide an excellent
working environment for staff and
improved conditions for patients.
Lisa Burtenshaw, manager of the
Beacon Centre, explained: “Everybody
comes into the same department at the
Centre, whether they are emergency;
need to see a GP; come during the
day, at night or at weekends. The
admissions desk will help determine
who the patient needs to see.
“Basically all anyone who feels they
do need treatment has to do is decide
whether it is a 999 emergency or they
can be dealt with by dialling 111 – we
do the rest!
“Those who have been involved in
accidents or incidents that have left
them seriously injured or bleeding
will be taken straight through to the
A & E department, which is adjacent
to admissions. And anyone who is not
sure what treatment they require is
initially seen by an A & E nurse.”
Out-of-hours at the Beacon Centre
works very similarly, but unlike many
areas of the mainland, the Island has a
very successful 111 telephone system
available for those patients seeking

“Everybody comes into the same department
at the Centre, whether they are emergency;
need to see a GP; come during the day, at
night or at weekends"

help and advice.
Lisa said: “The 111 system
genuinely works here and does so
mostly because we are co-located with
this single point of access. It does
not matter whether a patient rings
111 or 999, the call goes to the Hub
on the St Mary’s site, and is dealt
with accordingly. So basically this
department ‘does what it says on
the tin’!”
As far as the actual Beacon Centre
is concerned, 60 per cent is owned by
the Trust and 40 per cent by Island
GPs, which according to Lisa has been
a revelation, and is set to be copied
by similar departments up and down
the country. The Beacon Centre deals
with around 100 patients every day,

not including ‘out of hours’ while A