Yes, Minister
It has been a pleasure for us to welcome two Health Ministers to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in recent weeks.
Their interest in our services is a testament to the excellence of our staff who are leading the way in many different specialties.
Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley was given a special behind-the-scenes look at the new Chelsea Children’s Hospital and met with staff and patients on a tour of our state-of-the-art facilities for children and their families.
Our new purpose-built children’s hospital has been designed to suit the needs of young patients and their families.
Mr Lansley was shown one of the four new dedicated children’s operating theatres, the new day surgery ward, the Paediatric High Dependency Unit and other facilities including a special ‘sensory room’ which is designed to help calm young patients.
It was a great endorsement of the Chelsea Children’s Hospital that Mr Lansley described it as “Chelsea and Westminster’s wonderful new children’s hospital”.
As the lead centre for specialist paediatric and neonatal surgery in North West London, we carry out the most complex surgery on babies and children and we also support children to be treated closer to where they live and work closely with families to ensure they receive the best care in the most appropriate location.
Chelsea Children’s Hospital will eventually include not only the new facilities that Mr Lansley toured recently but also future developments including modernised wards, a relocated outpatients department, and much more.
We expect to complete all the work to create what is effectively a new children’s hospital on the 1st Floor of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital by the end of 2013.
Health Minister Simon Burns visited Chelsea and Westminster to hear about the implementation of a new ‘care bundle’ approach to the treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which has been proven to reduce the readmission of patients to hospital.
The care bundle approach was developed and piloted by Chelsea and Westminster staff through a project funded by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) for Northwest London – it is now being rolled out to other hospitals in North West London.
We were delighted to welcome Simon Burns to demonstrate the innovative work being carried out by our multi-disciplinary team and how it is benefiting our patients.
It was also heartening that the Minister praised the “excellent work” being done by our staff, led by Consultant Physician Dr Dilys Lai, in partnership with colleagues from CLAHRC.
He was also able to see how clinical leadership by senior nurses on our medical wards is improving care for patients.
Mr Burns said: “The dedicated team of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and pharmacists have been putting the latest recommendations into practice and as a result have seen excellent results in terms of treating patients with COPD.
“I am confident that patients at Chelsea and Westminster with lung disease are receiving first class care.”
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My final blog entry before I leave Chelsea and Westminster will be on Monday 25 June.
