The Grange University Hospital: Health Inspectorate Wales Report

Following today’s publication of the Health Inspectorate Wales' (HIW) report a variety of recommendations have been made, all of which we acknowledge and accept and some of which have already been addressed.

We were encouraged that the report and the feedback received from HIW recognised the improvements made at our Emergency Department and highlighted what we already know is true of our staff – all of whom have demonstrated hard work, great care, dedication and compassion during periods of extreme pressure on our services. It also recognised areas of good practice around patient monitoring and safety.

Many of the concerns raised by HIW focused on the limited capacity and conditions of Emergency Department’s waiting area and work is already underway to increase the size of the waiting area for patients at the hospital, to enhance our patient experience.

HIW have also indicated that improvements to patient flow and waiting times are required, which we fully accept. Whilst this is a nationally recognised problem and not unique to the Grange University Hospital, caused by system-wide pressures across health and social care, we are working hard to improve patient flow and reduce waiting times. We have a comprehensive Urgent and Emergency Care Plan and have already introduced a closer partnership working initiative between Emergency Department staff and the Welsh Ambulance Service to improve ambulance handover times, as well as introduced a Same-Day Emergency Care Unit (SDEC) to offer eligible patients more timely care and to free up space in the Emergency Department.

We will continue to make changes to improve the experience of our patients at our Emergency Department, while continuing to provide safe urgent and emergency care to the people of Gwent. We would like to thank our hard-working staff for their continued dedication to delivering the very best care to our patients.