University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust’s (UHL) new East Midlands Planned Care Centre (EMPCC) has officially opened its doors today (Monday 9 December), marking a major milestone in creating additional elective capacity at UHL.
The new £48 million EMPCC, at the Leicester General Hospital, will provide an extra 100,000 appointments every year for outpatient consultations and low-complexity treatments, including day case surgery.
The centre will be dedicated to planned care only, reducing the risk of cancellations or delays for patients during surges in demand for urgent and emergency care. Services include ear, nose and throat, general surgery, gynaecology, ophthalmology, and urology.
Hollie-Beth Hunt, from Ravenstone, was one of the first patients to arrive for her appointment. She said: “I’ve been waiting about a year for my procedure, so it’s great that I’m getting it now, and it’s a nice place to be getting it done.”
Graham Seal, from Leicester, was visiting to have his ears checked, and was delighted with his experience. He said: "It went very well, and the staff were lovely. It's a very nice place and it was nice to have been one of the first people to be seen. It was clean and new, and there were lots of staff to look after us, I can't say enough about the place, really."
The EMPCC will streamline care for routine appointments and day case procedures, reducing waiting times and enhancing the overall patient experience.
Outpatient Matron, Martha Tickell, explained how the new facility will benefit patients. She said: “What we can offer here will be so beneficial for the public. Patients will be treated in a spacious, fresh and completely new environment. When they arrive for treatment they will use self-check-in kiosks, which will then direct them to the correct waiting area for their appointment – freeing up colleagues to concentrate on delivering care.
“It is exciting to be working at the EMPCC, and we are going to be working differently with new paper-lite systems in place, which are a steppingstone to digitising the way we work here – a massive step forward for the Trust.”
On arrival at the EMPCC, patients will be able to use self-check-in kiosks in six languages, which will include directions to their appointment as well as step-free access throughout.
Alice Allen, who is the Service Manager for the new day case unit explains how the new centre is benefitting patients, “We are very excited about the new EMPCC and how our new nurse-led day case unit will create additional capacity and free up doctors to care of patients on wards.
“Our gastroenterology patient’s treatment will be streamlined and pre-packaged, meaning that the patient journey through the unit will be more efficient. All of this will enable us to significantly increase the number of patients that we can treat – reducing our waiting list and getting us to a position where patients are seen much quicker after they are referred.”
The EMPCC, which is in the refurbished Brandon Unit building at the Leicester General Hospital, will benefit from 14 outpatient rooms, four procedure rooms, dedicated pre-operative and recovery areas, and a medical day-case unit.
UHL Deputy Chief Executive Simon Barton added: “The state-of-the-art facility for patients who need outpatient appointments or relatively straightforward care. The EMPCC will be an important milestone to sustainably deliver planned care in a timely way and in a modern environment. We have also worked closely with our digital partners to digitise our processes, this means there is little reliance on paper notes and documents, which makes us more efficient, releasing our colleagues’ time to focus on patient care.”
