Publish date: 17 January 2023
Staff involved in the Building Better Emergency Care project at Queen Alexandra Hospital were joined by Chief Executive Penny Emerit and Chair Melloney Poole for the cutting of the sod ceremony.
Demand on urgent and emergency services has increased throughout the Portsmouth and south east Hampshire area and the facility has been planned by clinicians to help support this demand and offer an improved environment for both patients and staff.
Chief Executive Penny Emerit said: “Seeing another major milestone in our work to improve emergency care for our community is fantastic.
“This new facility provides a great opportunity to redesign our urgent and emergency services to further respond to the needs of our patients.
“Our clinical teams are leading the discussions with colleagues, partners and patients to ensure we provide the best possible services for our population and the best possible environment and facilities for our dedicated teams.”
Chairman Melloney Poole said: “A huge amount of work has been put in by all our staff across Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and our system partners to design a new Emergency Department and it is wonderful to see our vision becoming a reality.”
Local MPs, including Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt, Havant MP Alan Mak, West Meon MP Flick Drummond and East Hampshire MP Damian Hinds, and construction partner colleagues from Integrated Health Projects (IHP) joined staff to celebrate the sod cutting ceremony.
IHP Regional Director Jason Griffiths added: “IHP are absolutely delighted to be working alongside the Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust in delivering this superb healthcare facility in Portsmouth.
“The completed facility will change the lives of so many local people and we are proud to be the chosen partner for such a scheme.
“This project has been made possible through the collaboration of everyone involved and I look forward to handing over the completed facility in 2024.”
The Emergency Department programme received £58 million of national funding in October last year and the facility is planned to open in Winter 2024.
Some of the new features of the department include:
- Double the current resus capacityfrom four adult bays to eight for patients needing treatment for critical conditions
- Two further paediatric resus bays for children and increased privacy and dignity for patients with treatment in single bay rooms.
- Faster access to radiology teams for scans and tests
- A designated ED drop off zone with disabled car parking
- An accredited Changing Places accessible facility
- Dedicated rest areas for staff.
You can take a virtual tour of the facility with our fly through video to see how the design will help our staff to work in a more streamlined way, continue to improve patient safety and provide the best possible care.
If you would like to be kept updated or get involved as we develop our new emergency department, please email us at bbec@porthosp.nhs.uk.