Helping the Emergency Department Face Winter Pressures 

As the winter weather puts extra pressure on the Emergency Department in Bristol Children’s Hospital, we’ve supported the hard-working teams to help make things run as smoothly as possible for staff during the busy period. Read on to learn more about the solutions we’ve funded to help make the Emergency Department as efficient and comfortable as possible.

As winter sets in, more children are coming into the Emergency Department with coughs, colds and other respiratory illnesses. The cold, rainy weather inevitably means more patients and more illness – so we’re working with the amazing staff in the department to reduce waiting times and support the team. 

Here are the two new projects we’ve funded to help do just that.

Privacy screens

To see more patients and reduce the time families spend waiting in the Emergency Department, we’ve funded privacy screens that create additional temporary consultation rooms. These screens offer staff the flexibility and increased room they need during a boom in visitors to the department.

The screens, which are set up in Carousel Outpatients, located close to the Emergency Department, have been enhanced with designs created by our team to match the rest of outpatients. Featuring carousels and circus-themed images, they’re bright, colourful and child-friendly. This helps stop the area feeling cold and clinical for children and young people who may already feel very anxious about being in hospital.

New sofas to create an extra waiting area

Lots of children who come into the Emergency Department over the winter months have breathing issues. They might be coughing, wheezing or struggling to breathe, so staff will need to monitor them for a few hours after treatment to make sure they’re well enough to go home. 

That’s why we’ve funded four new comfortable sofas within the Observatory Ward, creating a temporary waiting area specifically for these patients and their parent or carer. It means for the few hours they’ll need to wait, they’re away from the general hustle and bustle of the Emergency Department somewhere quieter, calmer and more comfortable.

It also frees up three bed cubicles that would’ve otherwise been in use with these patients, helping to further reduce winter pressures on staff and waiting times for other families.