A FOUR-bed short-stay unit at Albury hospital takes patients from Monday, aimed at relieving the pressure on the hospital’s stretched emergency department.
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The unit will also bring Albury in line with peer hospitals in Victoria and NSW, offering a space where patients can be medically observed for an extended period with less impact on emergency department resources.
The unit owes its creation to a visit by a Victorian health bureaucrat who noted the cramped state of the Albury emergency department and offered it as an option to provide some relief to staff and patients.
Department funding has allowed for construction of a bathroom for the unit and provision of a staff room and storage area to cater to the new space.
The unit is a good-news story and an example of the benefits that flow when there is recognition of a problem by senior health management who can offer a solution.
The opening of the short-stay unit was noted by NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner during her visit to Albury this week and hopefully that visit gives extra impetus to finding other solutions that will make the wait for a new emergency department easier to bear.
