design
Prescribing a new solution for emergency care design
This article explores how a new approach to the design of emergency care facilities is helping to enhance services and free up hospital beds
T
o ensure healthcare services remain sustainable, and to address key pressures such as a rapidly- ageing population, increasing prevalence of long-term medical conditions, and dwindling budgets; the way in which they are delivered needs to change.
This is definitely the message from government, with increased pressure on health trusts to communicate more effectively with social care and third- sector organisations; and for care to be better organised and more focused on prevention rather than cure – keeping patients out of hospital and delivering care closer to home wherever possible. And these changes will also inevitably impact on the design of the healthcare estate in the future. Specialist healthcare architect, BDP, is
at the forefront of this revolution, with two recent projects showcasing a completely-new approach to the design of healthcare facilities, in particular emergency medical care. The practice has recently completed a new emergency assessment centre (EAC) at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Berkshire; and is mid-way through a £193.5m project to develop the new Grange University Hospital in Wales. Both projects aim to deliver a modern alternative to the design of emergency services which puts the patient pathway at the heart and brings all services – assessment and diagnostics through to treatment – together under one roof.
Under one roof The Wexham Park project was delivered under the ProCure21+ framework in
partnership with construction giant, Kier. It was part of a wider commission by Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust to redevelop two hospital sites – Heatherwood and Wexham Park – and includes the four-storey EAC, which brings A&E services, 24-hour assessment, and short-stay medical and surgical care together for the first time. This will increase collaboration between clinical teams so that patients can be assessed, diagnosed and treated better and faster, and many won’t have to be admitted to the main hospital at all.
The £49m scheme also helped
address backlog maintenance by providing additional bed capacity. “The original department was part of the single-storey existing estate which had grown over the years in a ‘pancake effect’,
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