Doncaster is responsible for the MIU in Mexborough (11 miles) away. The unit
was staffed by a full time medical pratitioner until Decmebr 2000. Since
then it has become a Nurse-led MIU.Few years before the transition, I
negotiated with the local ambulance system to bypass the MIU since the
hospital in Mexborough does not have acute intake for surgery, orthopaedics,
O & G, paediatrics and has no anaesthesia cover after 5 pm. The only
speciality with acute take was General Medicine..
The ambulance agreed on certain criteria:
-Any Trauma requiring ambulance transport
-Established cardiac arrests
-Patients with abdominal pain
-Pregnant women
-Patients with back pain
-Paediatric patients requiring ambulance transport.
Initially it took some time to insure that the protocols were followed
as -after all- there was a medical presence in the MIU. Since becoming Nurse
led, our ambulance system has adhered more strictly to the agreed protocols.
In 2001, I am aware of only 3 occasions when a patient was taken to the MIU
by ambulance and then transferred again to Doncaster. We have regular
meetings with the ambulance system to monitor the situation. The MIU still
sees about 19,000 patients per year!
Claude Chikhani
|