PATIENTS will have access to surgery quicker after the opening of a new clinic at a hospital.

The new emergency surgery unit has opened at Royal Blackburn Hospital and will aim to provide rapid diagnosis and access to surgery for patients.

Traditionally, patients referred for surgical admissions were admitted through the emergency department or direct to a ward and some experienced delays in being assessed.

They also faced waits for investigations and radiology to be ordered and when waiting for a decision as to whether they would be operated on.

East Lancashire Hospitals Trust said the new Surgical Ambulatory Emergency Care Unit (SAECU) will help reduce delays and improve the efficiency of emergency services.

Located on Level 1 at the hospital, the clinic is for surgical specialities including general surgery, urology, vascular maxillo-facial, ear, nose and throat surgery and trauma and orthopaedics.

Patients now have access to the unit through their GP, the emergency department, or the hospital’s surgical or medical teams, 24 hours a day, seven days a week

Shahid Islam, medical director for surgery and anaesthetics at the trust said it wanted to improve the quality of care for emergency patients.

He said: “Opening the new SAECU is one of several innovations recently introduced by the trust to work differently and more efficiently in caring for our emergency patients.

“Our aim is to improve the quality of care for emergency patients by streamlining processes and reducing delays.”

Jarrod Walton-Pollard, divisional director of nursing for surgery and anaesthetics, said: “Traditionally, patients were admitted via the emergency department or direct to a ward and some experienced delays in being assessed, in investigations/radiology being ordered and when waiting for a decision as to whether they would be operated on.

“In other hospitals the SAECU manages up to 30 per cent of patients who are referred urgently from GPs or the emergency department for surgical admission,” Mr Walton-Pollard added.

Other initiatives at the hospital have seen the opening of a new extended Ambulatory Emergency Care Unit (AECU), which will manage adult patients who arrive at hospital with conditions including low-risk chest pain.