Chelsea and Westminster Hospital given £1.5m to prepare for winter pressures

By Julia Gregory, Local Democracy Reporter

A Central London hospital trust will be spending £1.5m getting ready for winter pressures.

The cash for Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is part of the Government’s £300m for hospitals in England to help their A&E departments cope with winter pressures.

Overall trusts in London got £49m to weather the winter storm of extra demand for services.

The trust has casualty departments at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in Fulham Road and at the West Middlesex University Hospital in Isleworth.

Chelsea and Westminster’s casualty department has got a new major treatment area, emergency observation unit, new imaging suite, including a CT scanner and a new fracture clinic as part of £12m improvements.

The move is also part of the government’s aim to make people feel more confident to get help from A&E after the number of coronavirus cases reduce.

Meanwhile the trust has joined eight London hospitals which are the first using the Covid nudge test—a rapid, accurate, portable test that delivers results on the spot in just 90 minutes.

The test was developed by Professor Christofer Toumazou and his team at Imperial College London’s Department of Electrical Engineering and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering.

Dr Gary Davies, hospital medical director at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, said: “We are already using Covid nudge in areas such as A&E and elective surgery, where speed of testing has the most impact for patients.

“The opportunity to have this highly accurate test – without the need for a laboratory – is helping us to provide the highest quality care for our patients and support for our staff.

He added: “This test offers the best chance of tackling the biggest challenge that the NHS has ever faced, particularly now as we look ahead to the winter flu season.”

Pictured top: Chelsea and Westminster Hospital