Today I had the privilege of being shown around the new £21M Government-funded A&E facility at Croydon University Hospital, which has been in operation for just under a fortnight, writes Conservative Group Leader Cllr Tim Pollard.
Together with our health & social care team of Cllr Yvette Hopley and Cllr Margaret Bird, I saw the huge step forward in A&E provision that this new facility offers the people of Croydon.
Designed by local clinicians rather than architects, it is intended to speed up the provision of the different types of treatment required by the hugely divergent range of A&E attendees. It is 30% bigger than the old department and provides much greater privacy for patients receiving treatment than the old curtained-cubicles approach: each treatment room has a door and a privacy curtain. Treatment for adults and children is completely separate, creating a much more child-friendly environment for families.
It has been designed to be able to cope with a figure well in excess of the current annual number of visitors and with the ability to be expanded in the future as Croydon’s population increases.
The funding was lobbied for by the former Conservative MP for Croydon Central, Gavin Barwell and announced in 2015. It is wonderful now to see that work come to fruition and we look forward to the formal opening in the spring of next year (like most such facilities, it opens to patients long before its formal opening!).
Our thanks to the team at CUH and Chairman Mike Bell for their time in showing us around.
