12 January 2010
Local people and patients are being invited to a public exhibition to view Trust plans to spend more than £220 million on a major redevelopment of St Helier Hospital.
Between Tuesday 19 January and Thursday 21 January, the latest designs for the redevelopment will be on display in the Re:treat Restaurant at St Helier. The restaurant is on the ground floor of C block in the main building.
In addition, members of the team leading the project will be on hand to answer questions or talk people through the plans from 2.30pm until 4.30pm on Tuesday and Thursday, and from 9.30am until 11.30am on Wednesday. There will also be a chance during the evening of Wednesday 20 January to meet the project team, from 6pm to 8.30pm.
The proposals to redevelop St Helier Hospital include demolishing the hospital's five-storey Ferguson House and replacing it with a brand new, state-of-the-art building which will house the majority of hospitals wards and clinics. The new building will include 346 beds, with more than 50 per cent being in single rooms.
Importantly, millions of pounds will also be spent upgrading the remainder of the hospital site, including those wards which are not moving into the new building. The new hospital building will also include purpose built outpatient facilities, as well as a new central pharmacy.
Tim Wilkins is the project director for the St Helier Hospital redevelopment. He said: "The redevelopment of St Helier is rapidly gaining momentum and we know it's of great interest to our patients, our staff and local people. We have recently submitted an application to the Local Authority for outline planning consent and this is the perfect opportunity for people from the local community to come into the hospital to see the latest drawings and designs of the project, and to get their questions answered. From issues about how the wards and clinics will look to where the car parking will be, the plans will offer a great insight into what the future has in store for St Helier Hospital.
"We would encourage members of the public who have chance to pop into the restaurant and have an informal discussion about the plans and let us know what they think about them."
The proposals to redevelop St Helier form part of the Better Healthcare Closer to Home initiative, which the Trust's runs in partnership with NHS Sutton and Merton.
On 30 June 2009, the plans were brought a step closer when the Trust's strategic health authority, NHS London, approved the outline business case for the Better Healthcare Closer to Home initiative.
Since then, the plans have been submitted to the Department of Health for final approval, which is the usual process for projects of this size and value. It is hoped that we will be given the go ahead to develop a full business case (FBC) shortly.
If you are unable to attend the exhibition but would like to discuss any matters with the team then please contact Tim Wilkins by email at tim.wilkins@esth.nhs.uk
For more information about the redevelopment of St Helier Hospital, including further details about why we are doing it, visit www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/sthelierredevelopment.
