Worcestershire Royal Hospital A&E waiting room closed

Worcestershire Royal Hospital has closed the waiting room in its emergency department while contractors work to fix the floor with patients having to wait in a different part of the building. 

Princess Anne officially opened the £35million department in July, and just three months later, it has closed to the public. The new emergency department saw its first patients last October. 

Patients will now be expected to wait on the first floor of the Aconbury East building, which will have the emergency department on its ground floor.

INSIDE: A view from inside the new A&E at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester (Image: Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust) The main waiting room and triage area are not expected to reopen until November 2024. 

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said its priority is ensuring A&E stays open and functions safely for all patients and staff.

Stephen Collman, managing director at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Our contractors are carrying out remedial works after identifying problems with the floor finish in parts of the Emergency Department at Worcestershire Royal Hospital. 

“We have temporarily relocated the main emergency department waiting area and triage (initial assessment) service to the first floor of the Aconbury East building (which has the emergency department on its ground floor), which means we can continue to offer an accessible, road-level entrance for patients arriving at the emergency department from the Newtown Road end of the building.

BLOCKED: The entrance to the A&E waiting room has been blocked. (Image: Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust) “Once the floor finish is replaced in the waiting room and triage area, those services will be returned to their original location and work to replace the floor in two other, smaller, areas of the ED will be carried out."

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Additional signs have been put up around the hospital alerting patients to the move and extra staff are available to direct patients to the new waiting area.

This work will not affect access for ambulances and those using children’s emergency department.

Mr Collman added: "We would like to thank our staff and partners for their support while this work is carried out, and although every effort will be made to avoid any disruption for our patients, we apologise in advance for any inconvenience the work may cause."