New technology helps the RUH's youngest patients

Youngsters on the Children's Ward at the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust are benefiting from the latest in blood analysis technology.

The ward now has a new blood gas analyser machine, which is helping medical staff to diagnose and treat patients more quickly.

Previously, staff would have had to take blood samples from the ward to the hospital's on-site Dyson Centre for Neonatal Care to have them analysed.

Now that samples can be analysed on the Children's Ward, it saves staff time and means critically ill children can be treated even more quickly.

Consultant Paediatrician Chris Tate said: "The new blood gas analyser has already made a really positive difference to how we do things on the Children's Ward and how quickly we can diagnose and treat our patients. "Before, samples had to be taken to NICU to be analysed which took up staff time. Now we are saving that time and also able to treat our high dependency patients even more quickly.

"It also means we can easily analyse multiple blood samples from our most seriously ill patients, which helps us to monitor and manage their condition."

The machine can also help to indicate whether a patient may be at risk of potentially life-threatening sepsis. The Children's Ward at the RUH has 33 inpatient beds for children with both medical and surgical conditions. There is also a Paediatric Assessment Unit (PAU) within the Children's Ward with five designated spaces. There is a Consultant Paediatrician on-service for the Children's Ward each week.

ENDS

Notes to Editor

• The Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust provides acute treatment and care for a catchment population of around 500,000 people in Bath, and the surrounding towns and villages in North East Somerset and Western Wiltshire. The hospital provides healthcare to the population served by four Clinical Commissioning Groups: Bath & North East Somerset CCG, Wiltshire CCG, Somerset CCG and South Gloucestershire CCG.
• The Trust has 759 beds and a comprehensive range of acute services including medicine and surgery, services for women and children, accident and emergency services, and diagnostic and clinical support services.
• In 2015 The Royal United Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust acquired the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD) NHS Foundation Trust. The RNHRD treats patients from across the country offering services in rheumatology, chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome/ME, cancer related fatigue and fatigue linked to other long term conditions such as multiple sclerosis.
• The RUH is changing - we have an exciting programme of redevelopment underway transforming our site and further improving the services we provide. The Trust has opened the purpose-built RNHRD and Brownsword Therapies Centre and is now working towards the new Dyson Cancer Centre. For more details visit: www.ruh.nhs.uk/fit4future

Download printable version