Spade hits the ground for construction of specialist orthopaedic hub to serve the South West
The new centre will treat an additional 3,750 NHS patients a year providing 'Outstanding' care.
Construction work is underway for the Sulis Elective Orthopaedic Centre, with an official breaking of the ground event at the Somerset site commemorated on Wednesday 24 July. The Centre is a highly anticipated addition to the award-winning Sulis Hospital and is set to open in late 2024. It will create the capacity for an extra 3,750 non-emergency orthopaedic NHS patients each year across Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon, and Wiltshire as well as the wider South West region, allowing people to have the surgery they need.
(Attendees included Russell Flowers, Regional Director at Vinci Building and IHP; Alison Ryan, Royal United Hospitals Bath Chair; Portia Akuffo, Senior Staff Nurse at Sulis Hospital; and Jeremy Boss, Sulis Hospital Chair.)
Patients will receive an exceptional quality of care, as the hospital has achieved accreditation as an elective surgical hub through NHS England's Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) scheme and has a CQC rating of ‘Outstanding’ for care and ‘Good’ overall.
The hospital does not have an emergency department so elective surgery is ‘ringfenced’. It is at less risk of being cancelled because the hospital does not perform urgent, non-planned operations. Facilities at the Centre will include two new modular theatres, additional inpatient beds, and the conversion of two existing theatres to laminar flow theatres.
Paul Doyle, Transformation Director of the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (BSW ICB), opened the ceremony commemorating the project milestone with a speech. He spoke about how organisations like Sulis Hospital are coming together to work in collaboration to provide the best care for patients, and that this building epitomises that as a direction of travel.
Vinci Building and Integrated Health Projects (IHP) are delivering the project. The regional director, Russell Flowers, presented a plaque to commemorate the achievement. The Groundbreaking Ceremony marks the commencement of the foundations for the new modular building at Sulis Hospital. It represents the start of a new milestone for the build, to appreciate the work that has been done to date, and to reinforce the vision for the future.
Sulis Hospital has been part of the Royal United Hospitals Bath (RUH) family since 2021. The elective care delivery model will benefit considerably from the new Centre, ensuring that local people will get the care that they need as quickly as possible. NHS patients will actively see these benefits with a further reduction in wait times and waiting lists, and increased capacity to offset delays.
The region will also benefit from the 100 jobs that Sulis Hospital is recruiting to staff the Centre and provide exceptional care for every patient. The hospital is committed to providing the highest quality of care and the highest standards to benefit all, reinforced by its great patient feedback, excellent staff engagement, and national accreditations and awards.
Among those commemorating the breaking of ground was Simon Milner, Hospital Director at Sulis Hospital. He comments: “It’s wonderful to be at the breaking ground stage of this development, which has been eagerly awaited by all. At Sulis, we’re proud to reaffirm our commitment to increase capacity and help improve NHS patients’ access to high-quality year-round elective orthopaedic care. As part of the RUH family, we’re able to give so much back to the local community and we’re keen to pioneer a new way of thinking in healthcare that can benefit everyone.”
Doyle, adds: “Patients from the three acute hospitals in Bath, Swindon and Wiltshire will benefit significantly from our joint work to create the Sulis Elective Orthopaedic Centre. Building on the strong reputation of the existing Sulis Hospital, our ambition is to be an exemplar regionally and nationally, providing quick access and high-quality care to our population and beyond. This spade in the ground moment marks an exciting progression towards that ambition.”
Andrew Hollowood, Chief Medical Officer, Royal United Hospitals Bath, adds: “We all want to achieve the best possible outcomes for the people in our care. One of the ways we can do this is to reduce the time people wait for elective surgery, so they can get on the road to recovery and a better quality of life more quickly. Today is a significant milestone for this goal as construction work begins on the Sulis Elective Orthopaedic Centre. I’m looking forward to welcoming our patients to the Centre when it opens later this year.”
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