A new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) will accept patients this summer as part of a major infrastructure project at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
The three-storey building is located near to the Emergency department at Hull Royal Infirmary and has been “future proofed” the trust has said, to help staff and the facilities cope if there is another wave of the pandemic.
Chief Executive, Chris Long, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “It is testament to the hard work and dedication of our critical care teams that we will be able to take our place at the forefront of critical care in the country and to our Estates team for driving this project in these challenging times.
“This new unit will be a very welcome addition to the outstanding care we can provide people in critical need of emergency treatment, not just here in East Yorkshire but across our wider region.
“It will enable us to save more lives, provide patients and their families with better facilities and ensure we are in the best possible position to deal with any future waves of the virus or, indeed, any other pandemic in the future.”
The new ICU facility will house 24 beds and will cost in the region of £8million. Construction of the building began in January, and critical care teams are expected to move into the new ICU in August this year.
A new cooling system has been installed in line with the Trust’s Green Plan to make the new ICU as energy efficient as possible. Final plans are subject to final approval, but the top floor of the new building is planned to include two new trauma theatres, with six to eight recovery beds to monitor patients.
A separate building is being built to the new ICU to support staff, which will include accommodation and restrooms for staff, as well as offices. With the additional space, it allows for upgrading work to take place in the 60-year-old theatres in the neighbouring tower block and the currently operational ICU. The new building will contain a dedicated bed lift which will help transfer patients from the theatre complex to ICU.
Patients will receive treatment in glass front cubicles, double the size of the current cubicles in the existing ICU, across the first two floors. Each floor will house two identical halves with a staff observation centre in the middle.
Duncan Taylor, Director of Estates, Facilities and Development at the trust, said: “This is a fantastic facility which will help us provide the best possible care for our most seriously ill and injured patients well into the future. We undertook months of careful planning and design, working hand-in-hand with our clinical colleagues, to design the unit, using our wealth of experience of the pandemic to provide the cutting-edge facilities our teams will need.
“We are confident our new Intensive Care Unit will serve our staff, our services and our patients well for decades to come.”
