A new Critical Assessment Unit, designed to cut down on waiting times for patients in A&E, will be opening at Hereford County Hospital just before Christmas.

The new Clinical Assessment Unit (CAU) will open on Monday, December 23rd and operate seven days a week, from 9am until 10pm, with further plans early next year for the service to be available 24/7.

The CAU will allow specialist hospital staff to rapidly assess and diagnose patients whose condition can be treated without the need for an overnight stay in hospital. Patients will be referred to the unit by A&E staff or their GP for conditions such as chest problems, abdominal pain, and seizures. These patients are currently seen in Hereford County Hospital's busy A&E department or admitted to the Admissions Ward.

To enable the unit to open before Christmas a number of outpatients clinics are being re-located at Hereford County Hospital and a small number will be housed in a mobile building due to be delivered this week.

Outpatients clinics re-locating on Monday, December 23rd include trauma and orthopaedics and fracture clinics, within the main hospital building, and Rheumatology, part of Dermatology, Urology, and Gastroenterology clinics, including the bowel cancer screening nurse.

Patients are asked to report to the reception area indicated on their appointment letter where special additional volunteers will be on hand to assist patients to the new clinic location.

"People recover more quickly at home in a familiar environment and don't like waiting for treatment, which is often unavoidable in our A&E department," said Neil Doverty, Chief Operating Officer at Wye Valley NHS Trust.

"This Clinical Assessment Unit will give our patients a much improved experience, with assessment, diagnosis and treatment provided as a one-stop service on arrival at the unit.

"With the start of winter we couldn't really afford to wait for our new CAU to be operational 24/7, so we have opened it from 9am until 10pm, which will give us the flexibility to provide patients with a speedy and efficient service until early next year when the opening hours will be increased."

For more stories in full please see this week's Ross Gazette.