Acute Medical Unit

The Acute Medical Unit (AMU) is an assessment unit for emergency medical patients. 

AMU is an open plan layout which helps us to closely monitor you. We also have a Higher Monitoring Unit (HMU) for patients who require closer monitoring.

You will be admitted to either AMU 1 or 2, where you will be cared for by a particular AMU doctor and nursing team. Your allocated nurse will take a set of observations and make you comfortable. You will then be reviewed by one of the acute medical doctors who will assess and examine you to develop a care plan. A junior doctor will ensure that your care plan is reviewed regularly, with support from your consultant team and other professionals working in AMU.

Appropriate tests will be carried out and the results shared with you when available. The assessment process will take around 4-6 hours.

If you need to stay in hospital, you will be moved to an appropriate specialist ward, depending on bed availability. You might also be transferred to a ward that is not your speciality, but your doctors will come and see you in those wards.

Sometimes, you might stay on AMU for more than 48 hours. However, you will continue to get your prescribed treatment and your speciality doctors will continue to see you on AMU. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to contact your family members/carers to inform them you will be transferred, due to the busy nature of the unit.

If you need to contact us to find out if a family member is still in the unit, please call us after 11.30am and nominate one family member to ring the unit. Confidential information cannot be communicated via the telephone.