BRADFORD Teaching Hospitals today announced more than £9 million of improvements to its main hospital for the benefit of patients and staff.
The Foundation Trust is investing £4.9m in capital funds (including Research and Development) across two building projects at Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) and NHS Improvement (NHSI) are providing £4.25m for three ward refurbishment programmes.
These exciting projects will transform patient flow and benefit the working environment, as well as enhancing the experience and care the Trust provides to its patients.
Director of Estates and Facilities, Mark Holloway, said: “I am delighted to announce that Bradford Teaching Hospitals is embarking on a range of exciting new schemes that will enhance the hospital environment for our patients and staff alike.
“A fast-track construction programme has been developed to demonstrate our commitment to provide first-class healthcare and surroundings to match, as well as providing the most effective hospital pathways to meet the needs and demands of our patients.
“The requirement for us to support and transform our estate to meet changing needs in care, in conjunction with supporting COVID-19 demands, has allowed us to re-model our hospital to provide new clinical spaces and these will ensure significant improvements in the way we deliver and provide our services at the BRI.”
Work on a £3.7m capital project to build two new maternity theatres started in January and is part of the Trust’s drive to transform its maternity services into a truly outstanding provision for the women and babies of Bradford and to make its services fit for purpose by creating the very best facilities.
Operating theatres
The state-of-the-art operating theatres should be complete and ready for use by summer 2021.
Renovation work totalling £1.45m has also been allocated to wards 2, 5 and 12.
The refurbishment of ward 12, which began in December, will see the creation of a new paediatric day-case unit, which is expected to be open for business later this month.
Matron for Children’s Inpatient Services, Ruth Tolley, added: “The ward 12 development is an exciting opportunity as the refurbished paediatric inpatient service will sit on the same corridor, directly opposite wards 30 and 32, rather than its current location at the far end of another corridor, one floor down.
“The new ward 12 unit will also have a dedicated haematology and medical day-case section and enable us to continue our surgical day-case work in a fresh environment.
“It has been a long-desired move and will enable us to continue to deliver a high standard of care to the children and families of Bradford who use our service.”
Work will then begin on wards 2 and 5 which will house our new surgical assessment unit, acute surgical inpatient beds and a new ‘hot’ clinic, where recently discharged patients are reviewed within days of their hospital departure by consultant surgeons.
Transformation
Deputy Operations Medical Director and Consultant Surgeon, James Halstead, said: “This exciting new development will help drive our transformation of acute surgical care.
“Patients will benefit from new facilities, enhanced assessment protocols, integrated team working and shorter stays.”
Ward 10’s £1.5m makeover into a peri-operative care unit begins today (February 1) and is due to be complete by spring 2021.
The A&E department’s high dependency unit will receive a £1.3m transformation with the creation of eight new isolation units, each with negative pressure environments. Work on this project will also start this month.
Finally, £1.2m of both capital and research and development funding will provide the Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR) with a new main entrance – it currently has three – and concourse which will also include informal and formal meeting spaces. Work begins on this project in late February.
Plans are currently being reviewed for the development of the Trust’s endoscopy unit on level 3, BRI, which aims to transform outpatient rooms, clinical areas and provide additional endoscopy rooms.
This work will enhance the Trust’s reputation for innovative facilities, enhanced patient experience and an improved staff working environment
There will be some noise disruption but this will be kept to a minimum and most services will remain largely unaffected during the work.
ENDS
For further media information, please contact communications@bthft.nhs.uk or call 01274-364700.