04/02/2025 | News

Improving the urgent and emergency care entrance at Colchester Hospital

Work to improve patient confidentiality for people arriving for urgent and emergency care is going ahead at Colchester Hospital this month.

The hospital’s urgent and emergency care entrance, pictured below, will be closed from Monday 17 February until the end of March.

The urgent and emergency care entrance at Colchester Hospital

 

During the improvement works, a diversion via the main hospital entrance, past Costa, will be in place. Clinical teams will be at the end of the long corridor opposite WH Smith and Marks & Spencer to meet people arriving for urgent and emergency care. The triage process will then begin here and you’ll be shown into the waiting area.

Signage and posters will be in place to help patients, carers and visitors find their way.

The work will create four pods to improve confidentiality in the arrival area within the urgent and emergency care entrance. It will also improve the working environment for staff.

Catherine Morgan is Chief Nurse at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Colchester Hospital.

She said: “We understand that the existing arrival area at Colchester’s emergency department and urgent treatment centre (UTC) doesn’t provide the level of confidentiality we would like. This is because it’s quite small and cramped.

“This work won’t expand the area, but by taking out an existing wall to create these four pods it will help conversations between clinicians and patients to be more private going forward.

“Thank you for your patience and please accept our apologies for any disruption caused while this essential work takes place.”

Infectious diseases and medical emergency advice

Please wait and call the UTC co-ordinator on the number shown on our noticeboards as soon as possible if you have:

  • COVID-19 symptoms
  • flu symptoms
  • measles
  • mpox
  • an unexplained rash, or
  • recently travelled overseas

You can also call the UTC co-ordinator if you cannot get to the main hospital entrance due to a medical emergency.

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