The Acute Medicine Unit (AMU) is a 56 bedded unit located on the 1st Floor of the Tower at University College Hospital (UCH). Its primary role is to provide rapid definitive assessment, investigation and treatment for patients admitted urgently or as an emergency from the Emergency Department, and/or referred by their GP.
The AMU operates in close association with both the Emergency Department and the Operations Centre, and admits patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Patients stay on the AMU for up to 48 hours, during which time a management plan will have been instigated by the Consultant led acute care medical team. Patients with minor head injury requiring a period of observation may also be admitted to the AMU under the care of the Emergency Medicine Consultants, and a specialist Care of the Elderly team look after elderly patients with acute illness requiring admission to hospital for a few days.
Following treatment on the AMU, patients may be well enough to be discharged back into the community; or if requiring further inpatient specialist care, are transferred to the care of an appropriate specialty team at UCH or in one of the Trust’s other specialist hospitals.
The unit sees patients presenting with a range of acute medical problems, but common problems treated include: heart problems; asthma, chest infection and other respiratory conditions; gastrointestinal bleeding; drug and alcohol problems; and acute illness in the elderly.
If a patient needs to be admitted to hospital, his / her care will be taken over by one of the inpatient specialty teams in the Trust.
Following discharge home, a discharge summary is sent to the patient’s GP, giving details of investigations and treatment on the unit, with details of medication on discharge, and any recommendations for aftercare.
The Discharge Services team provides support to the clinical areas throughout the UCH Tower, facilitating prompt and safe discharge for patients. It includes the patients’ Discharge Lounge, where patients can wait for their transport home after leaving one of the wards in the Tower.
The Operations Centre is responsible for managing beds on the wards in the UCH Tower, both in and out of hours. In order to do this the Operations Centre team works closely both with the clinical areas in the Division and all the wards in the Tower, to ensure that both patients presenting as an emergency and those being admitted for a planned elective procedure are admitted to the appropriate ward within the Tower.