Edward has joined other Leicestershire and Leicester MPs on a tour of the brand new Emergency Department at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, which is due to open to patients next week and which will be the most modern A&E in the country.
Dr Ben Teasdale, the Emergency Consultant who has been the clinical lead on the design of the new A&E, showed the visitors round, who were joined by Trust Chief Executive, John Adler, and Trust Chairman, Karamjit Singh CBE on the tour. The major £48 million investment by the Trust in the state of the art Emergency Department to serve our city and county will make a huge difference to A&E services. It includes dedicated entrances for ambulances - which will help speed up ambulance turn-around times -, adult walk-in, and paediatrics; a doubling of the A&E capacity in Majors and Paediatrics; and cutting edge laboratory facilities on site which will halve the time it takes to get blood samples tested and results back to doctors.
Edward said: "It was a privilege to join colleagues from the City and County to be shown around this hugely impressive, brand new, A&E by Dr Teasdale. I want to thank Chief Executive, John Adler, and all those at the Trust who have worked so hard to make this important project a reality, and to all the clinicians and medical staff who will work in it, and who work so hard every day to give us all top quality care when we need it. The LRI is leading the way for the whole UK with this fantastic facility, which I believe will make a real difference for my constituents, and tens of thousands of people across our county and city."