Acute Medicine Department

The department oversees the care of patients with medical conditions from the time they are admitted to hospital to the point they are either transferred to a specialty ward or are discharged home. We are specialist health professionals in the rapid assessment, investigation, diagnosis, and treatment of medical conditions and operate in several environments within the hospital, admitting patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Patients stay on the Acute Medical Unit (AMU) for up to 72 hours, during which time a care management plan is initiated by a consultant acute physician. During your admission to the AMU, you will be assessed by both nursing and medical staff along with other healthcare professionals, as appropriate, who will work together to devise an individual care plan for you.

Our team has education programs aim to constantly train and update our nursing and medical teams in evidence based care. We also have Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACPs) who provide education and training within the department. For more information on ACPs, please look below.

The two main areas we operate in are:

1. Acute Medical Unit (AMU, based on A400)

When you are admitted to hospital with a medical condition, you will be seen either in the emergency department or the AMU by one of the on-call medical team (doctors, physician's associates, or Advanced Care Practitioners). A consultant should see you within 12 hours of your referral to the team, where an initial diagnosis and treatment plan will be made. During working hours (9am to 7pm, Monday to Friday) this will be overseen by the Acute Medicine consultants; outside of these times by the General Medicine Consultant on call.
Acute Medical Unit contact telephone number: 0117 342 7400

2. Same day emergency care (SDEC)/ambulatory clinics

You may be admitted to SDEC where you will be seen by one of our nurses/doctors/consultants or Advanced Clinical Practitioners. On SDEC we see patients with a wide variety of conditions the same day, to prevent you needing an admission to a hospital bed. This avoids the risks associated with hospital admission, and allows conditions to be managed in an outpatient setting whilst still providing a high-quality safe service. Referrals to this unit can come from GPs, the Emergency Department team, or other departments within the hospital. Patients will wait in a seated area and be seen by one of our clinicians, with any investigations or procedures arranged for the same day where possible to prevent the need for re-attendance.

Our SDEC area now includes a Frailty Same Day Emergency Care (FSDEC) unit. The purpose of FSDEC attendances is to make sure you are mobile enough, and able to look after yourself at home. After an FSDEC visit, you should be able to go home, but depending on how the appointment goes, you may need to be admitted for a short stay in hospital. The FSDEC unit's opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.

SDEC Unit contact telephone number: 0117 342 9233

To reach the FSDEC team, please call 0117 342 8777 from 7.30am to 6pm.

 

Acute medical staff

Consultants Dr Ben Jeffs        Dr Amit Sen  Dr Ivan Collin Dr Qiaoling Zhou Dr Khaled Aziz Dr Humayun Afridi

Advanced Clinical Practitioners Gurpreet Jutla  Martin Ledgeway  Physician's Associates

Matron Rebecca Russell Ward Managers Jayne Coleman Phillip Durham

Acute Medicine Specialty Manager Sydney Walsh Assistant Specialty Manager Rebecca Rowntree

  

Advanced Clinical Practitioners (ACPs)

ACPs are autonomous practitioners within Acute Medicine and can come from varied allied health professions, once qualified and trained to national standard. In Acute Medicine at UHBW, they work alongside the medical team as a permanent senior clinician workforce in the department. Although we pride ourselves on exceptional cross-team working with Acute Medicine, ACPs bridge any remaining gaps between medics and nurses seamlessly and endeavour to make patient care more coherent and efficient. ACPs are present across all areas of Acute Medicine and have the skill to assess, investigate, diagnose and manage a diverse cohort of patients.

Acute Medicine Admin Co-ordinator

Kerry Lawlor       0117 342 7083

For any queries please contact Kerry Lawlor in the first instance.