The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Hospitals designed with
Patients can expect “hotel-style” private rooms with en suite bathrooms as standard at Aberdeen’s £233 million new hospitals, health chiefs have revealed.
Construction has begun on the Baird Family Hospital and Anchor Centre at Foresterhill, which are both due to open in 2023.
They have been in the works since 2014, and the project directors have exclusively revealed some of the details awaiting patients when they arrive.
The Baird will act as a replacement for the city’s 84-year-old maternity hospital, which will be demolished, and also include breast and gynaecology services.
And the Anchor Centre will be directly connected to the existing radiology department, offering outpatient and day-patient oncology and haematology appointments.
All the bedrooms in both facilities have been designed for just one
patient at a time – allowing them privacy and flexibility.
Jackie Bremner, who is heading up the project for NHS Grampian, is hoping to achieve a relaxed atmosphere for patients, in particular new mothers.
She said: “We’ll have 100% single bedroom accommodation, which will allow families to be together with their baby – self-contained, if you like.
“We’ve had feedback that privacy is really important, but there are spaces if people want to socialise.
“We’re trying to get a building that’s as nonclinical feeling as we can.
“Obviously there will be some very particular parts of the hospital – theatres, birthing suites – that will be more clinical in nature.
“But staff and patient feedback from day one has been, if you’re a lady going in to have a baby, on the whole you’re not unwell but you want the environment to be soothing, calm and family friendly – and not feel too much like a hospital.
“All these things we’re aiming to achieve in the Baird wouldn’t be possible for us to do if we were just given the funding to refurbish the maternity hospital.”
The hospitals have been designed with a “familycentred” approach, allowing for many more opportunities than can currently be offered.
This will be particularly important for the Baird Family Hospital’s maternity unit which will replace the current set-up.
Each of the new rooms will be bigger than those now in use, providing space for patients, families and staff to “live quite comfortably side by side”.
Some of the larger spaces will also feature speciallydesigned window seats, which can transform into a bed to let a partner or relative spend the night in the same room.
Mrs Bremner said: “It gives that complete flexibility for the family to be together 24/7 – or not, as they wish.
“And all the spaces are en suite, unlike the shared facilities they have to experience just now, which gives the family unit that extra privacy.”
Bosses have also been considering the likes of interior design and artwork to give the rooms a calming atmosphere, unlike the “clinical” settings they may be used to.
Thought has also been given to social spaces, allowing new mums who may be missing the camaraderie of a ward to chat to others in a similar position.
Dedicated areas for downtime and a self-serve pantry have been designed to limit the frustrations of relatives “wandering the corridors in the middle of the night”.
Mrs Bremner said: “Dads have told us that, in the current maternity hospital, there aren’t really places to go if your wife is in heavy labour.
“There’s no proper lounge area – where do you get a cup of tea at 3am
when your partner’s been in labour for 20 hours?
“Clinical staff are trying to address that as best they can, within the limitations of what’s available, but in the new place they’ll have somewhere to sit that’s comfortable and they can watch the telly, or make a phone call or play on their iPad.”
After the idea to build the two new hospitals was cemented, most of the first year was spent speaking to former and future patients, charities and staff to finalise plans.
Gail Thomson, one of the deputy project directors, said: “Everything we’re hoping to achieve in terms of the environment and feel of the hospital has come directly from what patients have told us.
“I can remember very clearly that we had a group of male patients who said ‘you’ve not put enough loos in’ at the Anchor Centre.
“The facilities are for them at the end of the day, so it’s got to work for them and for the staff.”
During the planning process, the designs were tweaked to highlight the importance of outdoor spaces – including the addition of an external terrace – as a direct result of patients’ wishes.
Consultations took place with charity Sands (Stillbirth And Neonatal Death Charity) to help future parents who may experience pregnancy loss or bereavement, with a specific area designated to offer help.
Miss Thomson added: “We’ve planned very carefully with the Baird and we’ve used Sands from the very early days to work with us.
“They’ve helped us research other hospitals with similar units with that hotel, calm and friendly feeling.
“We have an annexe in the Baird that will be used specifically for this purpose.
It’s been quite a challenge making that work in the midst of a really busy, bigger hospital that’s serving other needs as well.”
The work to build two new hospitals from the ground up has offered a plethora of new opportunities.
And while it is coming at a cost of £233m due to unavoidable delays, including costs caused by Brexit – the initial estimate was £164m – the project director says it would have been “torture” to consider anything else.
Mrs Bremner said: “Hospitals in modern days have a lot of technical infrastructure – particularly in relation to things like ventilation, water management to prevent things like Legionella and making sure the air is right in theatres or ward environments so there’s no risk of cross-infection.
“The older buildings were never built with that in mind and to try and retrofit that infrastructure is torture and extremely expensive.
“And it’s always, even when you’re done it, a fix – it’s not right.
“You pay a lot of money to do something very poorly.”
A major milestone was reached towards the end of last year when the construction contract was signed by building firm Graham.
Spades entered the ground in January, with the timeline so far at a “good place” with the Anchor Centre due in May 2023 and the Baird Family Hospital in December 2023.
Mrs Bremner said: “The project is something which will benefit the whole community.
“The maternity hospital tends to feature a certain age group but breast and gynaecological services are across the age range – as is the Anchor Centre in terms of oncology and haematology.
“There’s not a family in Grampian that won’t, in one way or another, be affected by these two facilities.”
“Not a family in Grampian that will not be affected by these hospitals