Location
The Emergency Department (A&E) is located at level -1 of Block D5, to the left of the hospital's main entrance.
See
Hospital Layout page.
Opening Hours
The Department is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Services
The department caters for anyone seeking treatment for an
urgent medical problem related to an illness or accident.
Attending the Emergency Department
The Emergency Department can be very busy at times and thus should be used by those patients seeking urgent medical attention only.
Patients should ideally be referred by either the family doctor or health centre. This is to ensure that patients who can be treated at health centres do not need to wait at the Emergency Department until all urgent cases are dealt with.
On arriving at the department's reception desk, patients are first registered on the A&E system and asked to wait for assessment (triage). Once a patient is called for triage, he/she must proceed to the triage room where an initial evaluation is carried out and some readings (pulse, temperature, etc.) taken.
From the initial assessment, patients are categorised according to the urgency. Urgent cases are given priority and such patients are asked to proceed to Area 1 and seen by a team of A&E healthcare professionals. For less urgent cases, patients may be asked to return to the waiting area until they are called and directed to Area 2 or Area 3 where patients are assigned an A&E bed. There is also a Paediatric Area for treating babies and children.
Doctors may request investigations (eg. x-rays) whereby a patient is taken to the respective section and back to the cubicle. Other investigations are carried out at the patient's bed.
Following initial diagnosis and treatment, the patient's doctor-in-charge will decide whether the patient needs to be admitted to the hospital, or remain under observation for 24 hrs or discharged to his/her residence. A follow-up at the family doctor, health centre or outpatients department may also be advised.
Note: Patients with Gynae, ENT, Ophthalmic and Dental complaints are triaged at A&E and directed to the respective department within Mater Dei Hospital.
Patients Arriving by Ambulance
Urgent cases involving patients arriving by ambulance are referred directly to Area 1 through a separate department entrance.