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1 All new at Ayrshire Central Hospital Further developments have been continuing at Ayrshire Central Hospital with new buildings and refurbished buildings opening for business. The former outpatients department has been fully refurbished and - along with the newly built extension - is now open and providing a range of services for patients. The first area of the old outpatients department now has a reception office, three consulting rooms and six interview rooms. The second part of the existing outpatient department, which has also been refurbished, now has rooms for anticoagulant clinics, paediatric clinics, joint rheumatology, podiatry, nail surgery, dietetics, nurse specialist for epilepsy, speech therapy, phlebotomy, endocrine clinic and a new vasectomy clinic which started on 22 June. Services which have moved from the existing building to the new extension include: dermatology (including a new nurse-led biopsy clinic); care of the elderly; stroke clinic; travel medicine; urology; urology nurse specialist service; continence nurses; general medicine; chest medicine; gastroenterology; infectious diseases; renal; rheumatology; and rheumatology nurse specialist. The Central Decontamination Unit (CDU) opened on 18 April. This service deals with cleaning; inspection and assembly; and packaging and sterilisation of reusable surgical instruments and medical devices. The service is provided to: All operating theatres Wards/departments and outpatient clinics Ayrshire Maternity Unit Community midwifery Family planning and Well woman services 1

2 GPs School dental services Healthcare providers in the private sector On average the CDU deals with 2.8 million to 2.9 million surgical instruments and medical devices each year. Staff are trained not only in highly specialised cleaning and sterilising procedures, but also on how to recognise and assemble all the equipment which is returned for re-processing. Each piece of equipment is logged and given its own unique identifying number so that at any time, the equipment can be traced back and the full cleaning and sterilising history provided. The new Gallery dining room and kitchen has also been completed and offers meals and snacks for patients, visitors and staff at Ayrshire Central Hospital. The dining room seating has been increased from 100 in the old dining room to 150 in the new facility. There is also an outside patio area which has 30 seats. Patients and their relatives are also enjoying a traditional treat. The dining room now offers afternoon tea complete with the cake stand - from 2pm until 4pm each day. As well as the mouth-watering choice of cakes, tea is served on a tray with an old fashioned china tea pot and a vase with a single stemmed flower. The new kitchen, although smaller, is making the best use of space with state-of-the-art equipment including self-cleaning ovens. One major improvement is the waste facility. All kitchen waste is now collected and reused either for compost or for energy - making Ayrshire Central Hospital and Girvan Community Hospital the only two hospitals in Scotland making best use of their kitchen waste for green energy. Jim Crichton, Director of Primary Care and Mental Health Services, comments: While our work for planning the new health facility at Ayrshire Central Hospital continues we are still committed to improving the Ayrshire Central Hospital site. Along with new buildings we have completed a massive refurbishment programme of some of the existing buildings 2

3 bringing them right up-to-date. Our staff and patients now enjoy more pleasant surroundings with lots more open space, natural lighting and modern facilities. We believe that it is important to provide the right services as close to people s homes as possible and that is why we have invested more than 16 million in improving the Ayrshire Central Hospital site. We will continue to plan for the redevelopment of the site for the future. Photos Central Decontamination Unit Staff busy at work in the CDU A CDU staff member is cataloguing instruments 3

4 Instruments about to be cleaned Once instruments are cleaned they are ready for sterilisation The exterior of the new CDU 4

5 Dining Room Afternoon tea is a special occasion at Ayrshire Central Hospital The new dining room is spacious and bright State-of-the-art waste collector 5

6 The new Gallery dining room with its outside seating area Outpatients One of the new reception areas in the outpatients extension A bright and airy treatment room 6

7 With more space staff organise their cupboards and supplies Rooms look out onto a peaceful garden area Date of release: Friday 1 July 2011 For more information contact: Luan Johnston Communications Assistant NHS Ayrshire & Arran Communications Department Telephone: Out of Hours: Luan.johnston@aaaht.scot.nhs.uk Luan.johnston@aaaht.scot.nhs.uk Find us on Facebook at 7