A multi-million pound Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Walsall Manor Hospital is due to receive its first patients in December.
The ICU, constructed by Skanska, has brought together Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust’s Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU) and the High Dependency Unit (HDU) creating an 18-bedded unit, which is an increase of five beds.
It is a prime development for the Trust that will bring significant improvements for the borough’s sickest patients and their families. Staff are also looking forward to moving out of extremely challenging critical care environments and into a state-of-the-art centre.
The new ICU will allow the Trust to treat patients in individual rooms, preventing cross infection and ensuring their dignity and privacy. The standardisation of equipment at every bed space will mean any bed can be used for either an HDU or ITU patient, preventing them having to be moved. Each bed will have a ceiling-mounted pendant that supplies a comprehensive range of essential services including essential gases, power for equipment and IT links.
A relatives’ room has been created to better support families and friends of patients. The room has been named the ‘Francoise Suite’ in memory of a previous patient and kind donation from the family.
John Cottrell, Skanska Project Manager explained that the unit was almost finished externally with final landscaping works to be completed shortly.
“Most of the interior finishes are complete and we’re about to start the initial departmental clean along with the final testing and commissioning of building services,” he said.
“While these technical works are done new furniture and equipment is being delivered and this will continue through to the end of November. We’re working closely with Trust staff, who we have built up a really good relationship with during the course of this project, to ensure this partnership commissioning period is as smooth as possible.”
Suzanne Jarvis, Walsall Healthcare’s Care Group Manager – Theatres, Anaesthetics & Critical Care Services, said: “We know the next few weeks will be extremely busy as we count down to Saturday 1 December which is when we are aiming to have our first patients transferred to the new ICU.
It is, however, a really exciting time for our staff who can’t wait to start caring for our patients and supporting their families in what will be a much more appropriate environment.
“We have a number of training sessions for staff being held before the big day and a lot of work is going on around the relocation of services and how the ICU will operate in its new environment. Our commissioning partnership with Skanska is a vital element of this preparation.”