MORE than 500 people were seen at new emergency care unit designed to help people avoid hospital admissions.

The Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) unit, which helps people with chest and abdominal pain complaints as well as severe headaches and abscesses to access rapid assessment and treatment, opened at Glan Clwyd Hospital on July 3.

Since then, about 390 people who had visited their GP or the hospital’s Emergency Department have avoided a hospital stay and 110 went on to stay in hospital.

Nurses, doctors and radiography staff helped 70 per cent of visitors return home on the same day following treatment, allowing them to recover at home while also increasing capacity in the Emergency Department.

Andy Long, general manager for Emergency Care, said: “We’ve been really encouraged by how the SDEC has performed over its first four weeks.

“We know that in a number of cases, staying in hospital while you wait for certain types of treatment or diagnostic tests is not always best for your overall wellbeing.

“By returning to the comfort of your own home while you wait for a particular scan, test or treatment, we know people are able to better recover, while also spending time with friends and loved ones.

“While not everyone we saw was able to return home the same day, we know that a significant proportion of the people we saw have avoided a stay in hospital.”

The unit is run by a team of senior nursing, medical and surgical staff who can provide fast-track access to tests and treatments.