The ICU at Ayr Hospital will move over to Crosshouse Hospital as of next Monday.
Health officials have confirmed tonight that the critical care unit at Ayr Hospital will close the following week.
On Monday, March 11, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the South Ayrshire institution will close, and operations will be transferred to Crosshouse Hospital, which is located up the A77.
Starting on Monday of next week, all patients receiving care in the specialised life-saving ward will be moved by ambulance to the main Kilmarnock hospital, and no new patients will be admitted. With this change, Crosshouse’s critical care bed count will soar from nine to twelve.
It happens a little over a year after Ayrshire Live made the initial, exclusive announcement about the relocation of Ayr’s critical care service.
Then, months ahead of schedule, NHS administrators were obliged to refute claims that the beds would be switched over in November. Claire Burden, the chief executive of NHS Ayrshire & Arran, announced tonight that the temporary modification will now take effect in the upcoming six days.
Furthermore, she has reaffirmed that despite mounting concerns that Ayr is under danger, the hospital in the town would not be destroyed by the reforms.
“Critical care services are currently provided from both University Hospitals Ayr and Crosshouse, with an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and High Dependency Unit (HDU) in each,” Ms. Burden stated on NHS Ayrshire & Arran.
But because of major challenges in maintaining the critical care service model at the University Hospital Ayr site, it is getting harder and harder to maintain it.
“We must implement temporary adjustments to the critical care services’ operational procedures in order to ensure their sustainability and safety throughout the business.
This indicates that the three level 3 beds at University Hospital Ayr will move to Crosshouse starting the week of March 11. Crosshouse will see a rise in ICU beds from nine to twelve.
“As of March 11, no new patients will be admitted to the ICU at Ayr. We will move patients who are now in the ICU from Ayr to Crosshouse in stages throughout the course of the week. In order to ensure the safe transfer of patients, we will collaborate closely with our colleagues in the Scottish Ambulance Service and maintain a specialised team of medical and nursing personnel.
Ayr’s critical care, according to officials, will treat (Level 2) patients in a new facility.
The hospital’s sickest patients will be cared for in a facility consisting of four beds from the High Dependency facility (HDU) and an additional four high care beds, which are currently located in the Combined Assessment Unit (CAU). Patients who arrive at Ayr and need ICU (Level 3) care will be sent to Crosshouse by ambulance.
Ayr’s critical care will be delivered in a new unit
“We understand that some individuals may be concerned about these temporary changes and what this may mean if they or a loved one needs critical care services,” Ms. Burden continued. But the purpose of this temporary adjustment is to close large labour shortages that would otherwise make it impossible to continue providing our critical care services.
We can guarantee that patients in need of the most advanced critical care will have access to an intensive care medicine consultant around-the-clock, seven days a week, by implementing these temporary adjustments.
The public and our employees should be reassured that this is not a part of a larger plot to close University Hospital Ayr. University Hospital Ayr has been and always will be.
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