£70m specialist emergency care hospital will be the first in the country
Northumbria plans first specialist UK A&E hospital
New specialist hospital will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and will cater for rural areas from 2014
A new £70m specialist emergency care hospital is due to be built in Northumbria and will be the first of its kind in the country.
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said it was looking for a construction company to build the new hospital from next year, which will be the first to have specialist A&E consultants on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The trust has earmarked a site alongside the A189 near East Cramlington, with the aim of ensuring fast access from rural areas of Northumberland.
The development of a centralised emergency service will “significantly improve” the care provided by the trust, according to its chief executive, Jim Mackey. “This is a good investment in the health of our local communities and it also supports the local economy and provides much-needed jobs in the current economic climate,” he added.
The trust, which will employ experienced medical professionals who specialise in the treatment of specific conditions or injuries, said that its staff have helped shape the design of the hospital, which will have a state-of-the art A&E department, admission and in-patient wards, hi-tech diagnostics and critical care, as well as a short-stay paediatric facility and a consultant-led maternity unit.
The three-floor design will include wards which are arranged around a central nurses’ station, aimed at improving the ability of staff to observe patients and deliver high-quality care.
In the main, it will only treat patients from Northumberland and North Tyneside who currently receive care at the trust’s existing hospitals: Wansbeck, North Tyneside and Hexham.
According to an invitation to tender in the Official Journal of the European Union, the trust expects building work to take two years and to begin in July 2012.
Chris Biggin, emergency care consultant and strategic clinical director at the trust, said: I want to be able to take the best practice available worldwide and offer this to patients in Northumbria.
“To do this, I see a specialist emergency hospital as the only logical next step. It will allow us to take emergency medicine to the next level.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/healthcare-network/2011/
