Patients set to benefit from new £5m ward
Facility will allow the old Haldane surgical to close
Patients will soon be looked after on a brand new £5 million ward at Scarborough Hospital.
The new surgical ward – named Lilac ward – was officially opened on Friday and is now undergoing a programme of deep cleaning ready for the first patients to arrive on April 13.
The ward, which is located on top of Maple ward, has 31 beds. There are 15 single rooms and four, four bed bays.
The ward also features a surgical assessment area, which will help streamline the patient pathway for patients requiring surgery, meaning care for surgical patients is greatly improved.
The ward was opened by Alan Rose, chairman of the trust, who said: “Lilac ward represents the finest piece of real estate across all of our sites.
“It will be a wonderful new facility for surgical patients at Scarborough Hospital and represents a great example of reaping specific benefits from combining the strengths of Scarborough and York.
“I would like to thank everyone who has helped make this happen.”
The ward will open as a surgical facility allowing Haldane ward, one of the hospital’s oldest wards, to close.
Lilac ward is the first ward nationally to have been built using a design solution called the repeatable room design.
Andrew Bennett, head of capital projects, explained: “The ward utilises an evidencebased, best practice design solution called the repeatable rooms and standardised components initiative.
“The design of the four-bed bays makes efficient use of space whilst maximising the distance between bed heads, which is an important factor in infection prevention.
“The design of Lilac ward is also intended to maximise not only the visibility of external landscaping to patients but also the visibility of patients to nursing staff.
“Each of the four-bed bays also has space for a nurse or a doctor to record patient data from tests and observations without having to relocate to a separate office or nurse station.
“This will help to improve communication and dialogue between patients and staff.”
Carol Carrington, Sister on Haldane ward, said: “Staff are thrilled to be moving into their new home on Lilac ward. The ward is very bright, spacious and has lots of single rooms all with en-suite bathrooms. The bays are also very spacious and have a nice outlook.
“We are very fond of our Nightingale ward but the improvement for the patient is paramount. We can’t wait to care for our patients in our new ward.”
Work began on the ward on April 28, 2014. One of the biggest challenges for the construction was to build a new floor on top of an existing structure and to tie in the steel frame for the new ward with the existing steel framework.
Although the foundations of Maple ward had been designed and built to cope with another storey being built on top, structural survey work was undertaken to ensure that the frame for the new ward and all of the building services, such as drainage, could be tied into the existing services.
Another challenge was the relocation of Maple ward patients and staff whilst the frame, flooring and roof were constructed. The hospital’s escalation ward Graham ward was used to relocate Maple ward patients and staff whilst this work took place, during which time Maple ward underwent a light-touch refurbishment.
‘It will be a wonderful new facility for surgical patients’