
Scarborough Hospital’s new £47m urgent and emergency care centre (UECC) is ‘weeks away’ from opening after a faulty boiler delayed it last year.
The state-of-the-art facility at Scarborough Hospital, in Woodlands Drive is “now just weeks away from opening” and could be fully operational by May, according to health bosses.
The emergency care centre was set to be fully operational last November but its opening was pushed back until this spring after one of the site’s four boilers malfunctioned and had to be replaced.
Simon Morritt, the chief executive of the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“Our priority has always been to ensure that we do not move in until we are confident that the building is safe and functional for staff and patients and I am delighted to say that we have received assurance from our contractors that this is now the case.”
The UECC, which represents the largest capital investment by the York and Scarborough NHS Trust, is set to almost double the existing space at Scarborough Hospital.
In addition to a new CT scanner and two new X-ray machines, it has a secure room for highly infectious diseases while the whole building can be securely divided into two sections in the case of a wider outbreak, such as Covid-19.
The handover of the building is scheduled for the end of this month “allowing for a planned and phased approach to final testing, intensive cleaning, and occupation”.
According to a report prepared for a meeting of the trust’s leadership this week:
“This also gives us ample time for clinical teams and other support services to arrange rotas and undergo induction into the new building.”
Mr Morritt, the chief executive, said:
“We are now working towards starting the clinical moves in the last week of April, with a view to being fully operational at the start of May.
“This marks a hugely important milestone for Scarborough, and I know board members will join me in congratulating all of the teams involved in this momentous project.”
Comments
Add a comment