Planned Care Centre welcomes first patients

The £48m East Midlands Planned Care Centre (EMPCC) at Leicester General Hospital has welcomed its first patients.

(c) University University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

(c) University University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust

The centre, which is designed to streamline care for routine appointments and day case procedures, reduce waiting times and enhance the overall patient experience, will provide an extra 100,000 appointments every year for outpatient consultations and low-complexity treatments, including day case surgery.  

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust's (UHL) deputy chief executive Simon Barton said: ‘The EMPCC will be an important milestone to sustainably deliver planned care in a timely way and in a modern environment. We have also worked closely with our digital partners to digitise our processes, this means there is little reliance on paper notes and documents, which makes us more efficient, releasing our colleagues' time to focus on patient care.'

On arrival at the EMPCC, patients will be able to use self-check-in kiosks in six languages, which will include directions to their appointment as well as step-free access throughout. 

The EMPCC, which is in the refurbished Brandon Unit building at the Leicester General Hospital, includes 14 outpatient rooms, four procedure rooms, dedicated pre-operative and recovery areas, and a medical day-case unit. 

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