New hospital update

My experience of the care from the doctors and nurses in hospital was very good and I was treated well.

I spent nine days on a ward in the hospital in total, and fortunately I did not need intensive care.

I was discharged home in the evening of Thursday, 26 March. I feel great now and I am gaining strength, one day at a time.

I will forever be grateful to the absolutely incredible people who helped me.

Sharon McNally, director of nursing, midwifery, and allied

health professionals, said:

We are so glad to see that Lloyd, Carmel, and Very, alongside many other patients, are doing well in their recovery from coronavirus (COVID-19).

It is fantastic to hear such high praise for our dedicated teams, who are working hard to support our patients. It means a great deal to our doctors, nurses and support staff to receive these words of gratitude.

We are encouraging our patients to continue to get in touch and share thank you messages with our staff, as they are deeply appreciated.

Our new hospital – the plan

5 We are just about to take the first step on an amazing journey to transform healthcare for the population we serve. We have had a vision for a modern, brand new hospital for many years and with your help we are going to bring that vision to life. We are going to develop a building fit for the 21st Century with technology at its heart that will be a fabulous place to work, allowing us to deliver outstanding healthcare.

Our clinicians have been working with the strategy team to assemble a crack team of experts including architects, health care planners, town planners, land agents and a host of others to ensure we have the skills we need to develop one of the largest capital projects in the NHS today. As we emerge from the pandemic, we have all learned a lot. We now know what works and what has presented us with significant challenges. Our new hospital could not be better timed. We will make this the first pandemic proof hospital in the country and possibly the world.

More than just a hospital

Our ambition is that our hospital is more than just a hospital. Yes, it will deliver modern, outstanding, integrated healthcare, but it will be much more than that. It will be part of the community it serves. We want the hospital to have space for people to relax, an atmosphere that supports loved ones at difficult times and an environment that attracts the best to work in our team. We will be developing the inside and outside space for use by the whole community. We will be working with partners, staff and patients in the coming months with a massive engagement programme to understand what they want and need our amazing new hospital to deliver for them. Watch out for future updates so your voice can be heard.

How do we get there?

The first hurdle is to develop an outline business case (OBC) by February 2021. For this we will have to define our clinical model, develop the master plan (how the buildings fit) for the site and detailed 1:200 drawings which show all the departments, the