SITE VISIT OUH: what the new SEC means for patients
A spokesperson for OUH explained that the SEC is one of the most significant investments at OUH in a very long time and will have a real impact not only on the people they care for, but the people who work there too. Patients expect to wait only a reasonable time for elective surgery, and there is a national requirement to meet these
expectations. The SEC is critical to meet this challenge. However, these extra theatres will also positively impact theatre capacity across the Trust. The additional theatre capacity addresses
the biggest demand and gaps across the wider Thames Valley region and will reduce waiting lists for many patients. For example, once Level 2 is operational, there will be
The SEC was constructed using 365 bespoke steel structural modules, manufactured offsite and assembled over an eight-week period, effectively creating a weatherproof, ready-for-fit- out, six storey clinical building in less than three months.
increased capacity at the Churchill Hospital, which will reduce patients’ waiting time for their initial treatment. And at the John Radcliffe Hospital, extra elective theatres free up more theatres for emergency surgeries – ultimately reducing the risk of pre-operative deterioration and improving post-operative outcomes.
MMC Prior to our visit, while I was unsure what to expect of a building constructed from prefabricated modules, I had imagined that there would be obvious ‘joins’ between modules, or that one part of the SEC would be indistinguishable from another. In reality, walking around the SEC, knowing that the building was made from a collection of modules, I found it impossible to see any joins, or indeed to distinguish, for example, Level One of the SEC, with its generously sized medipods, wide corridors, and expansive ORs, from a new hospital building that might have been constructed using traditional construction methods over a much longer timeframe. Each floor of the SEC is comprised of between 70 – 75 precisely manufactured steel-framed modules, placed
by cranes with up to 500-tonnes capacity and bolted together with steel bolts, before concrete flooring is either poured in over a mesh frame, or placed in the form of slabs. Lift shafts and stairwells are precast. Far from being a series of identikit boxes, the MTX team tells me that every component module is bespoke. However, as the modules are, to all intents and purposes, essentially empty shells when they are lifted into place, the process of designing the building by no means stops once the modules are in position. Indeed, the function of Level Four of the SEC was still under discussion at the time of our visit, and if, in the future, a change of use is desired by the Trust for any of the floors (or parts thereof), the modular construction allows for this. As Adam puts it: “None of these partitions are load bearing. So, if they wanted to rip this back to a shell and refit it in 25 years, they can do that.” In readiness for its upcoming opening later this year,
Level One of the SEC is in an advanced stage of fitting out, with its ORs already host to some highly impressive, high-tech kit. Climbing the stairs (no mean feat in full safety wear as noon temperatures in Oxford threatened to top 30°C), we reached Level Two (i.e. the first floor of the SEC), which will also see the installation a further five ORs and one procedure room, together with more patient medipods in this case primarily for thoracic, plastic, endocrine, breast, ophthalmic, urology, and gynaecology surgeries. At the time of writing, Level Two is due to open in 2027. Level Three, meanwhile, contains all the plant for the SEC – comprising of multiple air-handling units and all the other electrical and mechanical equipment needed to maintain the optimum functioning of the building. MTX have also built an electrical substation a short distance from the SEC (the second the company has built on the John Radcliffe Hospital site), and power (all 3,200 amps of it) flows into and around the building via impressively massive (and extremely heavy) busbars – solid metal strips that are used to gather and distribute large amounts of electrical current, significantly reducing the number of cables used across the SEC.
Hybrid operating theatre.
50 Health Estate Journal October 2026
Closing thoughts What MTX has achieved at John Radcliffe Hospital with the SEC is seriously impressive. In creating a modern surgical facility in such a short amount of time, to an extremely high, bespoke spec, the company has set a template not only for how NHS Trusts should be expanding and upgrading their estates, but also how they should be approaching elective surgical care in the 21st century. We left Oxford with the hope that other NHS Trusts – and indeed the government itself – will take notice of what can be achieved in a relatively short space of time with a combination of modern construction techniques and some innovative, future-facing thinking.
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