Cost of New Cross Hospital A&E rebuild will reach £31m
The cost of building a new A&E department at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital has risen to £31 million it has emerged.
Work on the new centre which, it is hoped, will help ease pressure in the wake of record attendance rates, is due to start in start in October.
Original estimates had hoped the scheme would cost £25m but that has now risen to take into the account of preparation work such as clearing the site where it will be built and having to move a substation.
Plans unveiled today reveal that the project will be split into two phases and that more than 250 parking spaces will be lost as part of the development although bosses are considering building another car park to compensate.
The emergency centre will be housed on the ground floor of the building along with a radiology department. The first floor will comprise of an outpatients' clinic and a medical assessment ward. The second phase will see assessment and inpatient beds installed.
The new building will be linked to the acute medical unit as well as the heart and lung centre and critical care.
Work to clear the site and prepare the ground will start in October before the main building work begins in May next year. It is expected to open in October 2015.
The last few months have seen record numbers of patients attend New Cross.
In April 365 attended A&E on a single day, while March's total figure of 9,300 was an all-time monthly record.
Hospital chief executive David Loughton has labelled the unit as 'unfit for purpose', with patients often being treated in corridors.
A report by medical director Dr Jonathan Odum to the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust Board says the centre will be 'a flexible building with potential to open and close capacity to meet demand'.
He added: "This significant investment is an important part of the trust's commitment to enhancing our emergency service, especially in the light of the well-documented pressures faced by the current system.
"The estimated cost of delivery of the new emergency department includes the necessary enabling works to deliver this unit. This includes demolition, groundworks and the relocation of an electrical sub-station."
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