Luton pop legend Paul Young came to officially open the new Pre-operative Assessment Unit at the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital (L&D), much to the delight of staff. Paul told staff about his experiences of growing up in Luton and congratulated them on their impressive work looking after the local community.
Photo credit: Debra Rapp
Pop legend Paul Young with staff at the opening of the L&D’s new Pre-Assessment Unit
The new unit brings together almost all hospital pre-assessment in one place, replacing at least five other locations, and has a dedicated pharmacist and anaesthetist to give expert advice at the time of assessment. Patients have the opportunity to go straight from their outpatient clinic to the drop-in service, reducing the number of visits they have to make to hospital.
All patients can now be pre-assessed as soon as they know they are having surgery, meaning that any clinical concerns can be identified more quickly and a plan put in place for their procedure.
It also means that there are lots of pre-assessed patients who can be offered their surgery at short notice when other patients have had to cancel at the last minute. This is good news for both our patients and for the hospital.
Many thanks to Debra Rapp for taking photos on the night.