A new £24m day treatment centre has opened its doors to patients at Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.
The purpose-built facility, designed by P+HS Architects, contains four state-of-the-art theatres, plus an admissions and recovery area, and has been specifically designed to ensure operations and procedures can be delivered efficiently.
Over the coming months it will provide thousands of additional operations and procedures to tackle waiting list backlogs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new centre will provide procedures for orthopaedics, urology, general surgery, plastic surgery, neurology, pain management, and some cardiology services.
This will include operations such as cartilage and joint repairs for knees and hips, injections to manage pain, treatment for bladder and kidney problems, hernias, and minor plastic surgery.
Patients offered an appointment at the centre will be carefully assessed to ensure they can be safely treated without the need for an overnight stay.
The additional capacity will also free up thousands of slots in the hospital’s main theatres, to make way for more-complicated surgeries.
Largely due to backlogs caused by the pandemic, we have too many people waiting a long time for some procedures and are absolutely determined to do all we can to tackle this
And, because the facility is self-contained, its operating theatres will not be affected by emergency patient admissions or pressures linked to winter, so appointments will rarely need to be rearranged.
Commenting on the new facility, Martin Wilson, chief operating officer at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Largely due to backlogs caused by the pandemic, we have too many people waiting a long time for some procedures and are absolutely determined to do all we can to tackle this.
“Our investment in this centre will allow us to provide faster access to thousands of additional operations and procedures.
“There are many benefits to day treatment, not least that people can return home as soon as it’s safe to do so, for rest and recuperation in the comfort of their own space.
“A dedicated team has worked incredibly hard to bring this together in under a year and my thanks go to everyone involved in the construction, development of how the centre will run, recruitment and training.”
The centre was built by Robertson Construction.
The building contains four theatres, plus an admissions and recovery area
Key facts:
Building the day treatment centre involved 152,948 construction working hours and:
- 3,900m of pipework
- Six air handling units
- 2,000 engineering valves
- 154 medical gas outlets
- 1,113sq m of hygienic cladding
- 162 internal doors
- 2,005sq m of vinyl flooring
- 88.9 tonnes of hot-rolled steelwork
- 64 tonnes of cold-rolled metalwork
Featured companies
- Companies:
- Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust
- Robertson Group