£52m urgent care hub eases pressure at A&E

Health bosses say a new £52m urgent treatment centre is starting to take the strain at Derriford Hospital emergency department.

The Dartmoor Building was set up to deal with everyday emergencies like sprains, suspected fractures, minor head injuries, burns, bites, stings and infected cuts.

The aim is to treat people faster and keep the accident & emergency (A&E) department free for the sickest patients to reduce waiting times.

Consultant Ian McCarthy, clinical lead for the urgent treatment centre, said: "This unit sees about 100 patients a day and otherwise those patients would probably have to be seen in the emergency department."

One of the patients to use the centre is Emily Garrett, 18, who had fallen down the stairs at home and feared she had broken something.

Instead of calling an ambulance, she went to the new centre and was quickly assessed and sent for an X-ray which confirmed she had a strain.

Garrett said: "My X-ray seemed pretty fast, the staff are nice and they've taken care of me well.

"Now I'm going home knowing that it's not broken and just to not fall down the stairs next time."

Almost all patients are seen and discharged within four hours, with most done in under two, the centre said.

Staff said the move had made a real difference to how they work.

Nurse practitioner Paige Warbridge said: "We do lots of extra shifts in A&E because I still love the environment and the people down there but we've got more space."

Away from the building, new services linked to Derriford are also making an impact, from X-rays at home to lung cancer screening that has identified 500 cancers since it was launched in 2022, with 80% of patients cured.

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