The Louisa Martindale Building at the Royal Sussex County Hospital will open its doors to patients next month.
More than 100,000 patients a year will be treated across its eleven floors in purpose designed environments that meet the latest healthcare standards.
Peter Larsen-Disney the Clinical Director for the 3Ts Redevelopment said, “This is a once in a generation improvement for patients requiring hospital care from across Sussex.”
“We have a staged programme to move services in, starting in the first half of June. It will take almost four weeks to complete. We have been carefully planning these moves with the teams for months. Patients and their loved ones can be certain that continuity and quality of care is at the heart of these plans.”
The Imaging Department, which benefits from new scanning equipment including MRIs and CT scanners, will see the first patients in the new building. Letters are already going out to these patients and to those of other outpatient services moving into the new facility. Ward moves will take place later in June and will take a week.
Hundreds of members of staff have visited their new wards and departments in the Louisa Martindale Building in preparation for the moves. Their reactions have been very positive.
Charlotte Lee, Nurse Manager of ENT said, “Every aspect of our service will benefit from the move to our new Head and Neck Outpatient department. We have always been proud of the care we have provided and now we will have an environment we can be proud of as well.”
“The shared spaces are beautiful,” says Caroline New-Jackson, Principal Cardiac Physiologist. “They improve the environment for everyone, and will do so much for morale and the sense of wellbeing.”
Many of the services moving to the Louisa Martindale Building are coming from the Barry Building next door, the oldest acute NHS building in England that opened its doors 195 years ago.
Tedianne Delacruz, a ward manager from the Barry Building said, “It is going to have a huge impact. Our current conditions are cramped and challenging. We will have five times as much space per bed in the new building.”
Across the new building 65% of beds will be in single ensuite rooms with the rest in four bedded bays.
Emily Spence, a nurse and Change Consultant on the project said: “I have been taking a lot of teams around the new building and their jaws have been on the floor when they see their new working environment. We’ve even had some staff in tears as it’s such a contrast from where they work now. It is a privilege to work with them on the project.”
Completing the service moves into the Louisa Martindale Building will create space for stage 2 of the redevelopment, a new Sussex Cancer Centre replacing the Barry Building, and for the re-configuration of the Emergency Department.
