Expanded and refurbished Critical Care Unit opens at RPH

18 Jun 2020 10:22
Published by: Scott Callan

Work is now complete on the first two phases of the expanded and refurbished state of the art Critical Care Unit at Royal Preston Hospital.

Although the project was planned long before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, additional government funding has enabled the work to be accelerated, allowing the first two phases to be completed several months ahead of schedule.

It features 14 state of the art bed spaces, including six isolation rooms, two of which have ‘ante rooms’ that provide a negative-air chamber to isolate the workspace from the patient, which is designed to support a pandemic.

When the final two phases are fully completed next February, the 34-bed unit will deliver significant improvement for patients, relatives and staff. The new unit focuses on facilities for relatives which include a kitchen, lockers and purpose-built reception and waiting area.

Karen Partington, chief executive at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “We are delighted to announce that the first two phases of work on our brand-new Critical Care Unit are now complete and we will be ready to move patients in from next week.

“The new and improved facilities are of an exceptionally high quality, and the teams involved have worked so hard to make this project happen. This investment will improve both patient experience and the facilities for our incredibly dedicated team.”

Dr Daniel Cottle, clinical director in critical care and consultant in critical care and anaesthesia at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “The whole team are thrilled to see the new unit complete- it looks amazing!

“They have put a huge amount of work into designing the unit and bringing it to life. There will be substantial improvements in the care they are able to provide for patients and for the environment that they work in.

“In what are challenging times, the refurbishment is such a positive change and it will really boost morale on the unit. I’d like to say a huge well done and thank you to everyone who has helped to make this a reality.”

The Critical Care Unit has also seen significant donations from the public, facilitated by the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity team.

The public donations will fund a wide variety of additional items including reclining chairs and pull out beds for visitors; artwork; special exercise equipment to help patients with their recovery and furniture for the special counselling rooms within the unit.

 

You may be interested in