A new 28-bed modular step-down unit has opened at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, helping to ease mounting pressure on hospital services during its busiest periods.
Taking just six months to manufacture and install; the new facility is attached to an existing building via a purpose-built 15m hybrid link.
Portakabin supplied the modular unit within a tight timeframe to Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to help address the ongoing pressure on acute care wards.
Known as the Overton Unit; it is situated to the rear of the Sherborne Building at the hospital.
Designed with the wellbeing of patients at its heart; the modules were craned in while the hospital remained fully open.
“The building is there to ensure those patients most in need are offered a safe and welcoming environment in which to heal,” said Craig Stewart of Portakabin.
“As healthcare design specialists, we understand how important space is to providers at the busiest of times.
“This unit reduces front pressures, easing admissions and releasing beds around the hospital for when the very-sick patients need to be admitted. It also allows pre-planned surgeries to go ahead.”
Alex Whitfield, chief executive of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, added: “The Overton Unit provides step-down care for patients who no longer require the high level of acute care provided in hospital, but are awaiting a care package that will enable them to return home.
“Opening the unit has enabled us to release space on our acute care wards for very sick patients when they need to be admitted to hospital.
