Emergency care: If you are experiencing a life-threatening emergency, please continue to call 999 as normal.
Hospital appointments: Patients should continue to attend planned appointments unless contacted directly by their care team.
Non-emergency care: If you need urgent medical advice but it is not a life-threatening emergency, please continue to use NHS 111.
Contacting our services: Some email communications and online services may be affected. If your enquiry is urgent, please contact the relevant service by telephone rather than email where possible.
The Acute Medical unit (AMU) takes patient admissions from the Emergency Department, Ambulatory Emergency Care and direct from GPs. We have 63 beds.
After patients have been assessed in the AMU they will generally be treated, transferred to Ambulatory Emergency Care, admitted to a speciality ward, or discharged home.
In addition to the AMU we also work across Ambulatory Emergency Care and the Short Stay Unit, located on D Level.
Opening Hours
Main AMU - 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
GP calls – 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, with calls outside of these times being handled by our nurse in charge of the unit.
Ambulatory Emergency Care – 8am to 8pm, seven days a week.
You may have been referred to Medical SDEC by:
- Your GP
- From the Acute Medical Unit, where a single follow-up is required to review you after your discharge
- From the Emergency Department.
During your visit a member of the nursing team will complete any pre-assessment observations that may be required. Dependent on what is required, you will need to wait whilst investigations such as blood tests, x-rays and scans are completed.
A doctor or nurse will undertake a clinical assessment where they will discuss with you why you have been referred, your test results and the treatment you require. We will treat you in the SDEC when possible.
Further information about the Medical SDEC can be found in our patient leaflet.