Hospital transformation programme 'quite a logistical exercise'
Specialists undertaking The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust Transformation Programme have spoken of how it is ‘quite a logistical exercise’. They have told Shrewsbury Severn Rotary Club of trying to get wagons on the site without disturbing blue lights.
“We are trying our best with a massive construction site at the front to make it as pleasant an experience as possible for visitors,” Matthew Neal, Director of Hospital Transformation Programme, told Rotarians and guests.
To minimise the construction impact on site a park and ride facility has been set up at Oxon.
Julia Clarke, Director of Public Participation, Matthew Neal and Ed Rysdale, A&E Consultant and Clinical Lead for HTP, spoke of the staff free park and ride scheme at Oxon introduced to minimise the construction impact of parking on site during the £312m project. This has now been opened up to patients and visitors between 10am and 3pm.
They told Rotarians there was no funding for any more parking at the moment and appreciated parking was ‘very tight’. However, they would still explore creating more parking.
They were working closely with communities and specific focus groups and would be engaging with the public throughout the building work. There were opportunities for Rotary to become involved.
The meeting was also told that the Transformation Programme would practically double the size of the emergency department in Shrewsbury and a new adolescent unit on the second floor would be ‘really important’.
They were looking for further opportunities to make improvements for patients as well as working with other organisations and partners in the wider health system.
“It is a big communications campaign on how we are going to deliver the new model for both emergency and planned care and there are a number of other Transformation plans within the Shropshire health system itself,” said Matthew Neal.
“We want to do more and have a plan for the next stage of work which is ward and theatre improvements. We are doing a lot around community diagnostics, particularly on net carbon and a net decarbonised system.
“We want to work closely with the council on any plans they have and when the contractors disappear it will provide us with a massive amount of additional parking space,” said Ed Rysdale.
He added that the Programme had altered its plans. “Structurally, the model isn’t what we originally designed, but Shrewsbury will have the county’s Emergency Department, Consultant Maternity and Paediatric Wards and Critical Care.
“Our clinical model will work for the whole county bringing all our specialisms together. All complex operations needing critical care will be done at Shrewsbury; Telford will concentrate on all other planned care and day surgery. Both sites will provide urgent attention.”
By 2028, he added, they should all be ‘up and running’.
Said Shrewsbury Severn Rotary Club president David Morris: “It’s revolutionary – I’ve learnt so much.”
