The clinic is located within RACE unit (orange zone level 3), Poole Hospital

Visiting: Please see Trust Visitors Charter here.

RACE Clinic is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) led service with the aim of clinically assessing and diagnosing older patients without the need for an inpatient admission. It sits under the umbrella of Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) and is situated at Poole Hospital (orange zone level 3).

Patients can be referred to RACE Clinic via GPs, intermediate care teams and the Emergency Department. The clinic significantly reduces the waiting times for older patients to be assessed and diagnosed, in a quiet, friendly and non-threatening environment.

The appointment takes longer than the usual outpatient appointment as clinical assessment, investigations and results are obtained within the same appointment slot. It can take up to 4 hours. We provide refreshments and a light lunch if you attend over this period.

The ANPs are adept at assessing a variety of complex clinical conditions. They adopt a holistic approach to caregiving; taking into consideration any other problems or issues that may impact on your presenting complaint and your wellbeing. You will also be seen by a consultant geriatrician during your stay and we have therapists if a functional or mobility assessment is required.

RACE Clinic is nationally recognised as one of the first Older Person’s SDEC in the country, and has paved the way in developing alternative pathways to inpatient admission for Older Patients.

Please see Trust Visitors Charter here for visiting information.

Information coming soon

The Neonatal Unit 

The Neonatal Unit is located on the 3rd floor of the BEACH Building (B12) at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital. See map here. 

The Neonatal Unit cares for babies requiring special care, whether it is due to prematurity, illness at delivery, or health problems during the baby's stay at hospital.

The unit has 20 cots; fours of those are intensive care cots, six are high dependency cots, and ten are special care cots.

If your baby has to stay in the Neonatal Unit, we will work with the immediate family and/or carers to meet his/her specific needs. The facilities at the special baby unit include two overnight rooms with en-suite showers, one side room, four on unit/isolation rooms that parents can stay in alongside their baby, a shower room, expressing room, and a family room. 

The unit has open visiting for parents and siblings. Other visiting is between 2:30pm-6pm. 

Lytchett Ward is a general medical ward, part of the department of medicine for the elderly.

Lytchett Ward is a 26 bedded general medical ward specialising in the care of older people. We have a dedicated multidisciplinary team within the ward including doctors, nurses, occupational therapist and physiotherapists.

Contact details

Visiting times

We have set visiting times between 2-7pm. If you cannot come during those hours then arrangements can be made via the nurse in charge.

How to find us

Lytchett Ward is on level -2 of the Philip Arnold Unit which is in the yellow zone. Please enter from the main entrance of the hospital and follow the yellow zone signs.

The ward is locked to maintain the safety of our patients, please ring the bell for entry to the ward and a member of staff will let you in. Please be aware that we may not be able to answer the bell immediately during busy periods on the ward. You will also need to be let out again by a member of staff.

Telephone enquiries

We ask that routine telephone enquiries are made after 11am to enable staff to undertake fundamental care such as medication rounds and personal care. Please be assured that staff will contact you before this if there is a need to and we ask that all relatives provide up to date telephone numbers to enable us to do so.

We ask that you nominate one member of your family to be the spokesperson for all telephone enquiries to support the nursing staff to focus on essential care.

Assisting with care

If you wish to assist your relative in their care needs, such as during meal times, please speak to the nurse in charge about this.

Personal belongings

We advise that personal belongings of high value or large sums of money are not brought into the ward. The hospital does not take responsibility for the safety of belongings for those patients who wish to keep them with them, a hospital safe is available for those patients who do not have relatives to take these items home or who are unable to consent to taking responsibility for their possessions. We ask that if you take an item home from your relative than please inform the nursing staff so that this can be recorded.

Food and drinks

If you wish to bring in items of food or drink for your relative we ask that it is in its original packaging with a use by/sell by date clearly evident if it is not to be consumed immediately. We can only store food items that have this information on them for reasons of safety and a ward fridge is available. We have squash on the ward as well as a small stock of orange juice, and are happy for you to bring in additional drinks that your loved one may like to encourage hydration.

Parking

A multi-storey car park is situated on the main hospital site, the entrance to which is on Longfleet Road. A covered walkway from level G of the car park leads to the main hospital. The payment terminal for the multi-storey is in the main entrance and accepts coins, notes, or credit/debit cards.

Payment may also be made at the security/car parks office which is also located in the main entrance next to reception (card only). Please make sure you pay before returning to your vehicle. The car parking office is in the main entrance next to the hospital reception. Motorcycles can be parked for free of charge in the designated motorcycle parking areas.

If your visiting is extended over a number of days due to special circumstances you may be entitled to a reduction in car park fees. To enquire about your entitlement please contact the ward staff who can give you a form (at the discretion of the nurse in charge) for you to complete and take to the car park manager in the car park office in the main entrance of Poole Hospital.

Meal times

Our meal times are 1-2pm and 5-6pm. As some patients are unable to express their likes and dislikes regarding food and drinks we welcome relatives letting us know what these are, or assisting with completion of the menus to encourage good nutrition.

WIFI

Free Wi-Fi is now available to patients and visitors to the hospital, kindly funded by University Hospitals Dorset NHS Charity. It can be accessed by following the steps below:

• turn on Wi-Fi on your device
• select ‘NHS Wi-Fi’ from the available networks list
• open your browser and follow the on screen instructions to register or log on.
• enjoy your free Wi-Fi.

Have your say

If you wish to discuss any ideas or issues in more depth, please make an appointment to speak to the ward lead or a deputy

Please tell us how we are doing through the Friends and Family Test.

Tell us what is working and what we could do better.

Your comments will help us plan improvements to the care we provide.

For more information on the Friends and Family Test, visit www.nhs.uk/friendsandfamily to complete the form or scan the barcode.

Latest Friends and Family Test results