NATIONAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT
A ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ Emphasising that the Trust was keen for the new Princess Alexandra Hospital to be ‘a hospital for everyone – a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity’, Lance McCarthy said there was a’ massive responsibility’ to make sure it interlinked and integrated with primary, community, and social care. He said: “We want it to be a real asset in terms of staff recruitment and retention, and in how we can properly support our communities.” Flexibility was, he noted, ‘key’ – in terms not only of the building being adaptable to healthcare changes over time, but also in terms of site construction, so that additional buildings could be added ‘in a sensible planned way’ into the future, ‘rather than the sporadic way that tends that tends to happen currently’. The speaker added: “Flexibility is also key in terms of the immediate management of the COVID, and post- pandemic, but also in the ability to manage any future pandemic.” Accessibility was also ‘fundamentally important’; the Trust planned to seek local people’s and patient group input to help it design the flow around the hospital, and to look at how it could maximise virtual services and link in with some of the sustainable transport locally.
A ‘huge asset’
Lance McCarthy said he believed the New Hospital Programme was ‘a huge asset’. He elaborated: “Back in September 2019, when we were announced as one of the first HIP 1 schemes – six of us at the time – and were told we needed to get on and get the new hospital in Harlow built by 2025, we put our foot hard on the accelerator. There wasn’t a New Hospital Programme at the time.” He continued: “Frankly, it feels like the brakes have been put on a little with the creation of the New Hospital Programme, but now that it is up and running, and starting to do some fantastic things, it will really help us, particularly around market engagement for construction for the whole scheme, and some of the best practice guidance. In fact I think we can probably make up the
An impression of the configuration of the new Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow.
time we had originally planned, but, most importantly, it’s our responsibility to use this as an opportunity to have an impact on the whole of the NHS and the whole of the build programme, and to transform how hospitals are built into the future. We’re really excited about being able to play a role here too.”
On track with timeline
Timeline-wise, Lance McCarthy said the Trust was still on track to submit its Outline Business Case this autumn, with the hope that construction could start in Spring 2023, and that the new hospital could open in 2026.
Before concluding, he showed ‘a couple of high-level designs’ for the new hospital. He said: “These designs show that, in addition to hospital, we will also be relocating the East of England Harlow Ambulance Hub on site. So we’ve got the co-location there, and we’re in in ongoing discussions with our Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust colleagues around providing mental health inpatient capacity on the same site too.” Here, pointing to slides showing ‘site massing’ illustrations of the new hospital layout, he added: “You can see that the shape and size of the blocks lends itself
hugely to Modern Methods of Construction, which is key. We’ve intentionally gone for a lot of surface car parking in the current design, to create some space where we can plan to expand into over time – building a multi-storey car park, and then planning to expand in a sensible way that links clinical services appropriately, so we have sensible clinical adjacencies going forward.” Another image showed a stream running down the back of the site, with, lots of greenery. Lance McCarthy said: “If any of you know the existing hospital site in Harlow, this is all very different– and we want to maximise this as an opportunity for rest and relaxation. Finally,” he said, “you can see what we’re trying to do there. You can see the square blocks lending themselves to Modern Methods of Construction, but then we will be seeking to maximise the number of views out, the space, relaxation, and use of the building as a community asset. Hopefully this gives you a good overview of what we’re trying to do, how we’re trying to link in with the New Hospital Programme, but, really importantly, also how we’re striving to make sure that we can integrate all of healthcare provision locally across Harlow for the benefit of the future population.”
hej
September 2021 Health Estate Journal 25
Courtesy of the Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust
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