£13.7m hospital development to enhance patient care and reduce waiting times in Cumbria
A £13.7 million development is set to enhance patient care and reduce hospital waiting lists in Kendal.
Based in Westmorland General Hospital, the Elective Surgical Hub will act as a complete treatment centre, where patients can be scanned and receive treatment all in one place.
Upon completion, the facility will feature two brand-new operating theatres, an upgraded trio of existing theatres, an extended Operating Theatres Recovery Area, and 'ultra-clean' canopy technology in all theatres.
It will also see a new four storey extension, a new plant room with new air handling systems, siting of all the surgical wards, theatres, and associated services on the same floor, and new support spaces.
The creation of the Hub, along with the new Community Diagnostic Centre worth nearly £9 million, takes recent investment in the hospital to more than £22.3 million.
Located on Level 3 of the hospital, the Surgical Hub will be for planned surgery across a variety of surgical disciplines.
The development has been funded by University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT), who has said the hub will allow them to offer superlative care, treatment, and experience to those who live in the Morecambe Bay area.
The trust also aims to safely reduce length of stay for patients, cut waiting times, create an enhanced work environment for staff, to make the service more efficient.
The £22.3m in funding for the developments at Westmorland General Hosptial has come from a combination of new NHS England funding, including £8 million from Elective Recovery Funding and additional capital funding for the phased theatre upgrades of £5.7m.
It follows investment in the Kendal Community Diagnostic Centre, for which construction started in June. The centre will be located on the site of the hospital’s old mortuary and is estimated to be completed by May 2024.
Daniel Bakey, UHMBT, said: “The development of the Kendal, Elective Surgical Hub has been many years in the making.
"As we approach the completion of the current phase, we are extremely excited to have modern, purpose built theatres that are fit for the 21st Century. We want to deliver the very best treatment in the very best environment and this supports that.
“There are many advantages to the development of the elective Surgical Hub at Kendal, one of the main ones being that we will be able to do support more routine, urgent and cancer surgery.
"We have already undertaken a significant exercise to redesign our theatre timetable, delivered a project to reduce length of stay for hip and knee replacements and to commence expanding the hub prior to the capital works completing. Our Capital Services Team is doing a fantastic job on this challenging project.
“The Surgical Hub will improve communication between team members because everything will be in one place in the hospital. We have been reliant on temporary, hired mobile operating theatres over the past two years and welcome opening permanent, reliable, sizeable and purpose-built theatres in the coming months.”
This investment at WGH is part of the UHMBT ‘Putting Patients First’ strategy.
Approximately 70 substantive members of staff will work in the Surgical Hub alongside support staff.
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