Coronavirus: Queen Alexandra children's emergency department moves to cope with high demand as part of Covid-19 response

From today, the children’s ED at Queen Alexandra Hospital has been temporarily relocated to the children’s assessment unit on A Level to create more handover space for adults arriving at the emergency department via ambulance.

Parents and carers bringing children to the emergency department, as well as GP/MIU referrals, children with a paediatric yellow card and 111 referrals, are advised to enter the hospital through the east entrance. Ambulances arriving with children will also come through the east entrance.

Those attending for blood tests, scans and treatment should continue to use the main entrance to get to the paediatrics unit.

A hospital statement said: ‘From Tuesday, January 19, the Children’s Emergency Department at Queen Alexandra Hospital will temporarily be relocated to the Children’s Assessment Unit on A level within the Paediatric Unit.

‘This move will allow us to create temporary additional handover space for the high number of patients coming into the adult Emergency Department via ambulance. It forms part of our response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘The same high-level care we have always provided will continue to be offered to those visiting the Children’s Emergency Department in its temporary location.’

Latest figures from last month showed a decrease in the number of visits to A&E to the emergency department from November to December at the Cosham hospital but ambulance handover delays have worsened as Covid pressures increase.

A total of 254 patients waited more than 60 minutes to be transferred from ambulance teams to A&E staff in the week to January 10, NHS England data showed.

SEE ALSO: Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital patients see more than 250 hour-long ambulance handover delays

It meant Queen Alexandra Hospital had the second highest number of hour-plus delays across England, with University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust reporting the highest number with 291 delays.

Patients were not always left waiting inside an ambulance, as the figures include those moved into an A&E department where staff were not available to complete the handover.

NHS England data shows 503 people were being treated for Covid-19 at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, by 8am on January 12.

That was more than double the peak of 244 reported during April last year.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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