The Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust has opened Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) and Integrated Acute Assessment (IAA) units at Scunthorpe General Hospital in England.

The new Scunthorpe emergency care facilities, established with an investment of £7.2m, are located adjacent to the hospital’s existing emergency department.

Designed to improve patient flow and reduce waiting times, these SDEC and IAA units were opened to the public as part of a broader £65.2m investment aimed at enhancing urgent and emergency care services across Northern Lincolnshire.

The units will accept direct referrals from general practitioners (GPs), ambulance services, NHS 111, emergency department staff, or community teams, streamlining the process for patients requiring urgent care.

Scunthorpe General Hospital Emergency and Acute Care matron Lisa Norcup said: “We have a team of senior clinicians from a range of disciplines based in these units, who are here for you if you’re ill enough to need to come to hospital, but you’ve not been involved in an accident or emergency and don’t need to be treated in our Emergency Department.

“We can you direct you straight to the best clinician to meet your needs and provide you with the same high levels of care you’d get in the Emergency Department – assessing you, investigating the best course of treatment and getting that treatment started.

“This means that we may not need to admit you into hospital at all and, if we do, it’s likely to be for a shorter time.”

The new facilities at Scunthorpe are similar to the £4.4m SDEC and IAA units opened at the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby in January this year.

Like their counterparts in Scunthorpe, the Grimsby units are also situated next to the existing emergency department, facilitating a cohesive approach to emergency care.