ESTATE TRANSFORMATION


we are doing, which is fabulous.” Rob Few explained that there are two


acute NHS Trusts in East Cheshire – East Cheshire NHS Trust, and Mid Cheshire NHS Foundation Trust. The catchment area for East Cheshire is around 200,000 people. He added: “About 50% of the demographic are over 55, so our 28-bedded community ward at Congleton War Memorial Hospital is really important. As part of our Estate Strategy, we have improved the Outpatients’ facilities and the main entrance at the hospital, re-surfaced the car parks, improved signage, and installed new windows.”


Next plans Acknowledging that – despite all that had already been achieved – there was ‘still a long way to go’, Rob Few said: “Our next step will perhaps be to build a new discharge facility, and thus improve step- down capacity, at the Congleton site, as well as looking at all the infrastructure at our sites to make ensure that we have as sustainable an estate as possible.” Rob Few was keen to emphasise how important collaboration had been to what had already been achieved. He said: “The close working relationships that have developed between the Trust Board, the clinical teams, the IPC team, and Estates & Facilities, as well as with external contractors and project managers, have been of utmost importance – because while we’ve managed the various projects well, without this collaboration, planning and implementing such a wide range of schemes could have been a nightmare. Luckily, everyone has really bought in.” To date, no patients have had to be


moved, but, for instance, when the re- roofing of the four wards at Macclesfield District General Hospital gets under way, the Estates & Facilities team will need to shut six-bed bays at a time, reducing capacity, since the Trust currently has no de-cant capacity. Wards are currently 28-bedded, and a mix of six-bed bays and single bed rooms. Rob Few explained: said: “Each ward template is about 500 m2


template would be about 850 m2


. If you built these new today the , which


immediately presents us with a problem, since we currently only have four single rooms per ward, as opposed to the 50% ratio (or 100% in some cases) we should have.” He continued: “Addressing this will form part of our future Estate Strategy.”


External expertise Rob Few explained that the Estates & Facilities team uses an external contract administrator, ESE Project Management, and works with architects, Gilling Dod, on all the current schemes, including the PSDS work. He said: “Gilling Dod has always been extremely responsive – for instance over our desire to have natural colours throughout our new and refurbished


28 Health Estate Journal June 2023


New burners fitted to existing boilers – again PSDS-funded.


buildings. The colours will come from the furniture, feature walls, and artwork.” He added: “Our Infection Prevention and Control team is absolutely delighted with what we are doing; they cannot support us enough. The IPC team’s engagement on aspects such as washandbasins, ventilation, and wipeable surfaces, has been fabulous. When you are doing as much as we are doing on a small footprint, I would re- emphasise that this sort of engagement, having the Board fully engaged, and working with robust plans, are all key.”


Clinical team’s buy-in Most of the work we had discussed, apart from the ED re-modelling and extension, is scheduled for completion by early next year, Rob Few explained. He said: “The ward re-roofing will start this summer, and could continue into next year, depending on what sort of winter we have.” He added: “Since we will be taking six beds out of service at a time, the input of our Clinical team will be key. We won’t be working directly above patients, but when re-roofing over the nurses’ desks – which we can’t take out of service – we will be installing crash decks.” He continued: “Considerable thought has gone into how we will undertake this project. We will also be replacing manually openable Velux rooflights on all the wards – there are about 25 on each – with electrically operable ones. With natural ventilation on the wards, some of these rooflights have seized up, so in summer


the wards tend to overheat. The long-term plan is to have mechanical ventilation throughout. Our aim is to use every bit of cash to enhance the patient and staff experience. Currently,” he added, “we have close circuit cooling, and install temporary IPC-approved chillers on the wards, which costs us about £20,000 per year. As we can’t put DX chillers in every room, we will install two on our most critical wards, such as ‘Respiratory’, creating ‘cool rooms’ for the most in-need patients, catering for up to 12.”


Day case load more efficiently addressed Macclesfield District General Hospital currently has seven operating theatres, five of which have UCV canopies. Rob Few said: “Currently, some of our elective day case surgery is being undertaken in a theatre, but the Elective Treatment Centre will take on many of these procedures. This will free up theatre space for other surgery, and simultaneously increase our capacity for elective procedures. “All in all,” he concluded, “it’s fantastic for


my team and I to have this funding, after years of very little money being available to improve our estate, and to see so much work ongoing or already completed. In combination, the various schemes should transform our buildings, and enable us to offer even higher quality, patient- centered care, as well as a much improved experience, for all who use our hospital sites.”


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