Hospitals’ open day is chance for public to ask more about £101m investment in care
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is holding an open day across its two hospital sites on Wednesday (8 September) – giving the public an opportunity to meet clinicians and ask them how the £101m investment will improve care as we emerge from the pandemic.
The Trust, announced last week a £101m investment programme to modernise buildings, transform services and provide better patient care. The money is being spent on delivering ground-breaking services and establishing centres of excellence across a range of specialities replicating the success of cancer care and The Oncology Centre at Cheltenham which has a renowned reputation locally, regionally and nationally.
This community event will be a chance to meet the clinical teams involved, ask them questions and find out more about the future of our hospitals. In terms of COVID-19, we have assessed the event and are confident it presents little risk to the public. We would remind anyone planning to attend to abide by social distancing as well as wear a facemask where crowds gather.
Cheltenham General Hospital (Sandford Park Lido’s car park opposite the Oncology Centre) - 10:30-11:40am
Gloucestershire Royal Hospital (opposite the Tower Block and the multi-story car park) - 2:30-3:40pm
The cash injection will be used to construct new buildings, provide cutting edge technology, develop pioneering clinical practice, digital transformation and green initiatives. While the spend marks a major investment in hospital services over the next two years the leadership team is prioritising additional funding sources.
Some of our clinicians have said the investment will provide the next generation of care for the county’s patients and will:
- Improve patients’ outcomes
- Help reduce waiting times
- Ensure fewer operations are cancelled
- Enable more patients to receive the right care at the right time in the right place
- Enhance safe staffing levels
- Attract and retain the very best staff.
Improvements at Cheltenham General Hospital include:
- Two new operating theatres opposite the Oncology Centre providing capacity to treat an additional 3,000 patients a year
- A new purpose-built Day Surgery Unit enabling a greater number of day case operations
- Extensive refurbishment of the Radiology Department and installation of new CT scanners, MRI scanner and greatly enhanced patient environment meaning emergency patients accessing the town’s A&E will benefit from faster, more accurate and better diagnostic tests such as X-rays and MRI scans
- A new CT scanner and improved patient area in radiotherapy enhancing further the Oncology Department’s outstanding reputation
- The establishment of a new Interventional Radiology room (spoke) to provide specialist support to Urology and Oncology services.
Improvements at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital include:
- A significant extension and redesign of the Emergency Department to improve patient flow along with improved Mental Health provision
- The extension of the Acute Medicine Initial Assessment (AMIA) area which provides an improved same day emergency care provision
- The extension of the Acute Medical Assessment Unit. This will increase the bed space by 17 beds and enable the centralisation of acute medicine at GRH
- The conversion of non-clinical space within Gallery Wing to create a new 24 bed ward
- Establishing surgical robotics across oesophagus, stomach and gall bladder patients (upper gastrointestinal tract) with a multi-speciality programme commencing shortly
- The establishment of a pioneering hub to house image guided interventional surgery which will make Gloucestershire amongst the best in the country for providing the full range of interventional radiology (using Imaging equipment (X-rays and Ultrasound)) to guide surgical procedures across a range of specialities).
Digital upgrades are being rolled out across both hospitals - reducing paperwork, freeing back time to clinicians to care and making patient information more joined up, accurate and easy to access.
A range of green technologies including a heating system upgrade and pipe insulation, installation of solar panels on roofs and installation of a new battery storage system to the hospitals’ electrical distribution network are also being installed.
Work has already started on establishing compounds across both sites ready for the main building works programme which begins August (2021).
Please see below links to some additional information about the day.
We look forward to seeing you there, hope that you can join us in celebrating the start of these major works!