5 July 2019

From Monday July 8 there will be some changes in the Emergency Department reception area at Whanganui Hospital.

The area is shared with WAM (Whanganui Accident & Medical) and at times this joint arrangement has caused confusion for patients.

The Whanganui District Health Board is streamlining the triaging of emergency department patients, and from Monday all ED patients will be triaged by an ED nurse.

This means there will be a clearer differentiation between the Emergency Department and WAM.

ED will be marked by red signage and will remain based to the right of the reception desk.

WAM will be marked by black signage and will remain based to the left of the reception desk.

ED will now have its own triage nurse handling patients who are emergencies. The nurse will be situated in the room to the right of the reception desk.

ED is for emergencies only -- life-threatening or organ-threatening situations that may include:

• Active bleeding
• Acute chest pain
• Difficulty breathing
• Stroke
• Choking
• Loss of consciousness
• Clearly broken or dislocated bones (look obviously deformed)