Trust seeks feedback on proposal to improve specialist infectious diseases inpatients care
Patients, carers, service user groups and other stakeholders are being asked for their views on the proposal to move Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust’s specialist infectious diseases inpatients service.
Currently, patients with infectious diseases whose care requires a stay in a hospital may be admitted at Charing Cross, Hammersmith and St Mary’s hospitals – all part of the Trust.
For patients admitted to hospital with severe infections and fever requiring isolation or high-level medical treatment and monitoring, the specialist infectious diseases inpatients service is currently provided in an eight-bed ward at Hammersmith Hospital.
We would relocate the specialist inpatients service from Hammersmith Hospital to St Mary’s Hospital and maintain the current service at Charing Cross Hospital for admitted acute infectious diseases patients. St Mary’s Hospital provides urgent and emergency care through the A&E department, which is the main route of admission to hospital for patients with infectious diseases. The move would improve patient experience by reducing ward moves and transfers of patients across our hospital sites.
Under the proposal the infectious diseases patients presenting at St Mary’s emergency department requiring hospital admission would remain on the St Mary’s site and we would aim to accommodate the majority of patients presenting at the Charing Cross emergency department requiring hospital admission on the Charing Cross site.
Dr Frances Davies, consultant microbiologist and Imperial College Healthcare’s head of specialty for infectious diseases and microbiology, said:
“We want to deliver the best possible care for patients who are admitted to hospital with a severe condition related to infectious diseases.
“Our specialist clinical team has outstanding expertise in treating and managing infections and fever and this move would see further improvements and benefits for patients, staff and the system of care.”
The key benefits to be gained from the proposal are:
• Better patient care
• Higher quality of outcomes
• Reduced ward moves and unwarranted cross-site transfers of patients
• Enhanced patient experience
• More staff training and professional development opportunities
• Improved system effectiveness
The infectious diseases service would continue to provide in-reach services for patients being cared for by other departments at Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals, as well as maintaining outpatient services in their current format across all our three main sites.
The eight specialist inpatient beds currently used for infectious diseases inpatients at Hammersmith Hospital would be repurposed to other areas of patient care. As a result we will continue to use all the current beds for other areas of patient care.
The Trust would welcome feedback throughout the engagement period from Monday 2 August until Friday 27 August 2021, especially from patients, carers and service user groups and other stakeholders to get a full range of views. Please submit any comments and questions via email to: imperial.communications@nhs.net
Subject to the feedback the Trust receives on the proposal, it is expected that the timeframe would be for a decision to be made in September 2021.
For more information please read the proposal summary document.
