News & Events

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Building Starts on New Maternity Unit

Building work to prepare for a new midwifery-led unit at the L&D's maternity department has now started.

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This is good news for women who will be offered greater choice, but the hospital warns that access to the maternity entrance and car park will be affected while work goes on.

· The main entrance to the maternity unit will be closed at night from 6pm - 6am on Tues 9, Weds 10 & Thurs 11 February 2010. Security staff will be posted at the entrance to direct women and visitors to the correct entrance during this time.
· You will be directed to the maternity side entrance at these times: it will be clearly marked and is under the covered walkway.
· The car park in front of maternity will be closed from Monday 8 February until the end of May to allow construction and other works to take place.
· Alternative parking is in the St Mary's Wing car park which is accessed off the A505 Dunstable Road.

Peter Moffat, General Manager for Women and Children's Services said, "We are very pleased that our plans for a new midwifery led unit are now going ahead. As with all building work there will be temporary disruption to the site - mainly affecting the entrance and car park for maternity and we apologies to all expectant mums for any inconvenience this may cause."

"I can confirm that there will be absolutely no disruption to the service we offer to the 5,000 women who have babies born at the L&D each year. Building a midwifery-led unit means we will have more midwives who will manage any uncomplicated pregnancies in the unit freeing up our specialist staff to concentrate on women who have complicated pregnancies or health risks."

The hospital has written to mums-to-be about the building works and temporary disruptions.

Pregnant women are advised to contact their community midwife if they have any concerns or questions about the building works or access to the maternity unit.

The new midwifery-led unit is an exciting development to improve the service offered to pregnant women and it will open early in the summer 2010.

 

Public Consultation on Renal Services helps to clarify Local Requirements

East pf England NHS held a public consultation at the L&D.

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The event on 21st January was attended by both members of the public and healthcare workers from within the region who were able to ask questions and give their views on how renal and where services should be delivered.

"Attendees raised some interesting issues that we are finding across the board," says Lucy Dominy from East of England NHS. "For example parking provision is always raised, together with questions about the need for new units in Bedford and Biggleswade. This latter issue currently involves patients travelling some distance to dialyse because there are no local units. If this was resolved, it would obviously release pressure at Luton, which was an issue raised by the staff who attended."

Spencer Colvin welcomed as new L&D Chairman

2010 is off to an exciting a start with the arrival of our new Chairman - Spencer Colvin.

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With years of experience as a businessman and a company director, Spencer became Chairman of the Luton & Dunstable Hospital on 1st January 2010. He has brought with him substantial experience and valuable skills acquired from the service industry and through the management of supply chains.

Spencer has also been deeply involved as a chairman of the governors of a Special Needs School whilst also playing an active role in the charity, the Variety Club of Great Britain.

"I am passionate about improving healthcare and have three key issues on which I want to focus," says Mr. Colvin. "Firstly, it is important to champion the disadvantaged - especially children; secondly, it is essential to offer the best customer service and the highest levels of patient satisfaction, and thirdly we need to get rid of the inequalities in healthcare."

Spencer is very excited at the prospect of working with people at the Luton & Dunstable Hospital. "I am especially looking forward to getting to know the Governors who are the eyes and ears of our patients and the local community. Together I know that we can achieve much more for the L&D."

Hi vision is clear - patients have paid for their service, they are our customers and should receive the best.

"Over the next couple of years we see big changes within the NHS and the L&D is no exception. However, I am confident that change will bring exciting new opportunities that will benefit both the hospital and our patients."

Carol Concert led by Nurses’ Choir

Salvation Army support the L&D's Carol Concert

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The Hospital held its annual Carol Concert on 14th December with the support of Dunstable's Salvation Army band.

The Service, which was attended by a record number of staff and public, was accompanied by a choir of nurses led by a soprano (pictured here).

Following the service, staff and members of the Salvation Army went around the wards to sing carols to cheer the patients.

L&D is rated highly in the Dr. Foster Good Hospital Guide

In the new ratings for 2008-09 the L&D Hospital has achieved an overall score of nearly 83%.

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The criteria on which hospitals are rated by Dr. Foster's varies slightly from those used by the Care Quality Commission, where we have been rated as the best hospital in the East of England.

We are pleased that the Dr Foster Good Hospital Guide has also rated the L&D highly, with only Addenbrookes in Cambridge gaining a higher score in the region.

This success is also reflected through Dr Foster's composite score relating to how Trusts commit to Patient Safety - again we scored very highly at 92%.

As champions of Patient Safety this remains the prime focus of the L&D. However we are not complacent about our success and patients can rest assured that we constantly striving to make even greater improvements.

Click here for more details on the Dr. Fosters Good Hospital Guide

 

Tele-Med Service for Young Heart Patients launched at L&D

New visual link to Great Ormond Street was launched on 13 November

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A new high tech televisual link between Paediatricians at the L&D and Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital could save the lives of children and babies with serious heart conditions. The Tele-medicine service was launched on 13 November.

We are one of the first hospitals in the East of England to invest in the Tele-Med service, which will be used by specialist neonatologists who work with premature and critically ill babies as well as by paediatricians in the children's wards and outpatients dept.

The new machinery has a real-time two-way video link between the two hospitals so cardiac specialists at Great Ormond St Children's Hospital can discuss diagnoses face-to-face with doctors at the L&D. In effect, the patient benefits from having the shared expertise of specialist doctors at both hospitals at the one time without having to travel by ambulance to London.

Dr Sivakumar - pictured here with two members of the L&D NICU team - is the hospital's lead neonatologist. "I am delighted that we have the new Tele-Med equipment which will enable us to make earlier diagnoses of some very specific cardiac conditions in newborn babies treated here. Having guidance on diagnosis from a specialist centre will let us stabilise and treat our patients more quickly, safely and closer to home. We intend also to use the equipment in teaching sessions to enhance doctors' specialist training. This new equipment is part of ongoing developments in the L&D's specialist unit which cares for the smallest and sickest babies in the area."

Dr Jan Marek, Consultant Cardiologist for Great Ormond Street Hospital said, "We are extremely delighted to have for the first time the opportunity to directly communicate with our colleagues at Luton and Dunstable Hospital via a tele-medicine link. Tele-med technology enables us to interpret an on-line diagnostic cardiac ultrasound examination and immediately discuss with colleagues the best treatment strategy for small and often very sick babies. Tele-medicine consultations may significantly improve the outcome of a sick child born with congenital heart disease. If the telemedicine consultation confirms the child does not have a cardiac abnormality, then we have saved an unnecessary hospital transfer." 

Great Success for Pathology Week at the L&D

The 'Pathology week-end event was an absolute sell-out!   

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Pictured here - courtesy of the Luton News - are some of the  members of the public who took the opportunity to come along on 7th November to find out what work is carried out in the Pathology Department.

It was all part of the UK's National Pathology Week when members of the public were able to step behind the scenes to find out what the detectives of the medical world do to diagnose medical conditions and disease..

Over 70% of medical diagnoses in the NHS involve Pathology and National Pathology Week was an opportunity to find out what Pathologists and BioMedical Scientists do to keep us healthy.


Picture courtesy of The Luton News

The event was an absolute sell-out with visitors coming from all around the region. They were able to find out about the  10,000+ tests on samples which are analysed by the department every day: equivalent to 3 million per year.

 

New Bereavement Suite at the L&D

Guests were impressed by the stylish design of the new bereavement suite which was opened at Luton and Dunstable Hospital on Friday 30 October. The transforming project was part of a £1 million programme "Enhancing the Healing Environment" funded by the Dept of Health and led by The King's Fund, a health improvement charity.

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The King's Fund awarded the L&D a grant of £30k towards creating beautiful and purpose-designed facilities to benefit bereaved visitors and staff and improve end of life care for patients. The hospital invested a further £70,000.

Award winning Bedfordshire architects Nicolas Tye were commissioned by a multi disciplinary team at the hospital to design the new suite which includes the viewing room, comfortable sitting room for visitors and a peaceful courtyard planted with bamboo, a water feature and hand crafted decorative glass panels. Even the décor and furnishings have been selected to create a sense of peace and harmony with bereavement in mind.

The new suite was opened by the National Director of the Department of Health's End of Life Care Strategy, Claire Henry who was delighted with the completed project.

Stephen Ramsden, Chief Executive of Luton and Dunstable Hospital and team sponsor said,"Enhancing the Healing Environment addresses support for the dying and the bereaved in a symapthetic way. We wanted to make the emotionally painful time of bereavement as dignified and supported an experience as possible and the new bereavement suite is something we can all be proud of - giving personal dignity, privacy and an environment of care for deceased patients and for their loved ones who come to pay their respects.

L&D Ranked as Best Hospital in East of England!

CQC gives the L&D two 'Excellent' scores in Annual Health Check

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Luton and Dunstable Hospital has been confirmed as a top ranking hospital by scoring 'excellent' in the Annual Health Check ratings. The Annual Health Check conducted by the Care Quality Commission measures the performance of every NHS organisation in the country and the L&D is the only hospital in the East of England to score excellent in both key elements:

• Quality of financial management
• Quality of services

The L&D improved its performance even though fewer health Trusts this year reached the top rank of excellent for quality of services.

Chief Executive of Luton and Dunstable Hospital, Stephen Ramsden OBE said, "I am absolutely thrilled that our efforts in improving patient safety, waiting times, service delivery, quality and efficiency have paid off. We have improved our rating to be one of the best hospitals in the country achieving all 44 core standards in the Annual Health Check and I hope that gives our patients the confidence to know that we put their safety, care and experience first. Despite reaching the excellence standard, we know we must go further to make this hospital even safer and give every patient the best possible experience."

37 Trusts in England achieved excellent for both quality of services and financial management. Of the 18 acute or specialist hospitals in the East of England, none achieved as high a rating as the L&D.

 

 

NHS Choices launches National Roadshow at the L&D

Visit the L&D main reception on 13 and 14 October to meet the NHS Choices team!

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The L&D is proud to be a pilot site for the new NHS website - CHOICES.

The site is going to consolidate most of the old NHS websites into a single 'one-stop' shop for patients and healthcare workers.

The CHOICES staff are showing people how the site works, how to get the information they need and how to feedback.comment on the services they receive. It is planned in the near future that the Choose 'n Book system is also integrated into this new super-site.

At the roadshow you can find:

-   information such as the A-Z of Health, medical
advice, healthy living, information for Carers and advice on mental health 

-   up to date news on health issues and topics of
the day such as Swine Flu 

-   information and reviews on Hospitals, GP
Surgeries, Dentists and other healthcare centres

-   a comment / feedback function enabling
patients to rate and comment on hospitals and,
from mid-October, GP practices

For more information go to www.nhs.uk

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