The Emergency Care Centre (ECC), was completed at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Gateshead in 2015. Through a single front door, emergency patients are streamed into the appropriate category and treated. The design, a UK first, provides 56 identical treatment and assessment rooms, designed as eight room pods, providing a flexible space which can adapt to changing clinical demand. A 36-bed assessment unit immediately adjacent to the ED supports an integrated emergency care model.
Prior to completion of the scheme, emergency care patients would enter the hospital through multiple entry points, which led to inefficient working and a poor patient experience. Long travel times between ED and medical/surgical assessment units compromised patient safety and increased assessment/treatment times which led to significant breaches in the four hour target.