NHS Ayrshire & Arran chief executive, John Burns, and Doug Keillor, regional director of contractor, BAM Construction, met this week to sign the construction contract for the pioneering Building for Better Care programme.
The formal signing session was a major milestone in the programme, which will see a new emergency department at University Hospital Ayr and two new combined assessment units at Ayr and University Hospital Crosshouse.
Phases 1 and 2 of Building for Better Care (BfBC) will provide new, modern, fit-for-purpose facilities at the ‘front doors’ of University Hospital Ayr and University Hospital Crosshouse. The ‘front door’ is the term used to describe the point of entry for patients coming to hospital for anything other than a scheduled appointment. The new facilities will make it possible for patients to get rapid assessment by senior clinical staff at the earliest point of their arrival.
These first phases include the development of combined (medical and surgical) assessment units (CAUs) at University Hospitals Ayr and Crosshouse in line with the requirement of the Royal College of Physicians that all hospitals should have an acute medical unit to deliver safe and effective emergency medical care.
There will also be a new Emergency department at University Hospital Ayr, with resuscitation bays, high care areas and cubicles. This will be fully integrated with the minor injury unit and NHS Ayrshire Doctors on Call (ADOC) service.
Burns said: “Signing the contract was a major landmark and the culmination of several years of work to improve the quality of our services. Building for Better Care will give us the fit-for-purpose physical environment to support the improvements we are already making in the ways patients are assessed, treated, admitted or safely discharged when they come to hospital in an emergency.”
Keillor added: “These facilities will provide improved healthcare facilities for the local communities and BAM looks forward to creating opportunities during the construction period for local suppliers and contractors.”
