A “same day” emergency care unit has been opened at King George Hospital to speed up treatment for life-threatening injuries or illness.

It has already cut the standard treatment time by a fifth for those who don’t need to stay overnight but need urgent treatment which ‘same day’ care offers, according to Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The unit is run by the hospital’s emergency department, overseen by a nurse-in-charge.

“We’re making sure the right patients are cared for,” the department’s matron Emma Beard said. “There is flow ‘in’ and flow ‘out’ as patients are discharged, like there should be.”

Around 50 patients are now being treated each day, BHRUT said. Patients for diagnostic tests can also be cared for while waiting for their results, as well as those with low-risk chest pain, headache or cellulitis.

A similar ‘same day’ emergency unit was opened at Queen’s Hospital in Romford in April which has speeded up treatment by half since 2019, according to the trust, not including the pandemic lockdowns.