News

St Austell Community Hospital's Minor Injury Unit (MIU) has been given a major new revamp - in record-breaking time.

Plans for the refurbishment of the unit were only put in place in October. And just 7 months later work on the hospital's new look minor injury unit has been completed.

It is a hugely impressive turnaround for the unit, which now boasts more open spaces. There is a larger waiting area dedicated to the MIU. The room can seat up to 30 people. The MIU has 2 bays, which can take up to 4 beds at a time, as well as 3 treatment rooms.

Margaret West is matron at St Austell Community Hospital.

She says:

"This is fantastic. It is something I have dreamed of for many years. To be able to relocate our very small and cramped MIU to a better place. This is such a boost for us. For our patients, and the team.

"The unit has such a calming influence. It feels calm. There's space. It's light. It's airy and we have lots of new equipment.

"We have 3 treatment rooms, which are separate rooms that people can be seen for isolation.

"We could do our plastering in there. And if somebody needs something more private than an open bay then we've got that space. We can see children separately, and we have a separate triage room.

"The waiting area designated to the MIU is a huge bonus to us."

St Austell's new MIU is an excellent example of how urgent treatment centres might look in the future.

Margaret says:

"If we want to develop, we are looking at urgent treatment centres for the future. That's something you could accommodate somewhere like here. We've got the space, and we've got the facilities within that space.

To make sure those visiting the MIU have a positive experience during what can be a difficult time, the unit also features some familiar places. This includes a large screen picture of Mevagissey in the reception area."

Margaret says:

"You want to make people feel welcome when they arrive and comfortable. That first impression can make all the difference.

"Margaret added that the completion of the new MIU has been a real team effort. Working together and planning ahead also meant that there was minimal disruption during the transition.

"There was a lot of hard work and a lot of planning. From the outside looking in it was a seamless transition.

We had a good project manager and that's worked for us. Ross (Talling, project manager) has worked with us to do this, and we all worked together as a team. We met weekly with the contractors, got the bulk of it done first then moved minor injuries. On the whole it went pretty well."

She adds:

"There have been lots of people involved. We had the planning team. Tracy Rogers (head of security) was a great help with us from our local security management specialist. We've now got access control in the unit.

"Liam (Button, infection prevention and control lead practitioner) was great. There have been a lot of people involved in our operation with Jayne Thomas (operations manager). She took a great lead for us to get it done.

"Steve Dawson is project manager. He coordinated meetings and funding, including equipment. I said to Tom Lilleyman (associate director, estates, and facilities) that I will also be eternally grateful for them going with our plan to make this such a better place.

"David Tregonning, the team leader has been fantastic. He's been involved in everything in what we need. He has been very proactive from day one."