1 April 2011
The £219 million redevelopment of St Helier Hospital achieved another milestone recently when the team working on the scheme were given the thumbs up by an independent review team from the Department of Health.
The review, which took four days to complete and involved detailed interviews with a wide range of staff working on the multi-million project, assessed the progress of the scheme to date and, importantly, the likelihood of it being a success.
On completion, a report was issued which noted that significant progress has been made since the last review, held in October 2009. In particular, the expert team commented favourably on the Trust's plans for relocating staff and services whilst building work takes place and reserved special praise for the way in which the project is being managed.
Mathew Hopkins, Chief Executive, said: "Very few major projects of this size and complexity get such a high level of endorsement at this stage. This is a fantastic result and goes to show just how much work is going on behind the scenes.
"The money we are going to spend on the hospital is the single biggest investment in the local NHS for a generation and there's still a lot to prepare before the builders and bulldozers come on site. However, I hope the feedback from the Department of Health team will reassure local people and patients that we are moving forward with the project as quickly and as thoroughly as we possibly can."
As well as interviewing staff working on the project, the review team met with GPs, other local NHS organisations and patients.
Tim Wilkins is the Project Director for the redevelopment. He said: "At the moment we are carefully modelling exactly where our patients and our staff will be located when the JCBs arrive. For patients, this involves agreeing where they will be treated, how they will get there, making sure we have the right facilities and equipment, and that it's easy as possible for them."
"In the part of St Helier Hospital which is being demolished we have residential accommodation for our doctors and nurses, offices for our administrative teams and busy cardiology, audiology and skin cancer clinics, so this is not as simple as it might sound."
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Key facts about the redevelopment of St Helier Hospital:
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£127 million to be spent on new hospital building;
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£40 million spent on upgrading remainder of the site;
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£17 million local care centre;
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346 beds, including 50 per cent in single rooms;
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Purpose-built outpatients department;
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New pharmacy department;
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Centralised eye clinic;
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Multi-decked car park and improvements to hospital entrances/exits.
For all the latest news from the St Helier Hospital redevelopment, including the latest plans and designs, visit www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/sthelierredevelopment.
