Building work has been completed on the new £45 million South
Bristol NHS Community Hospital.
The next few weeks will see equipment and
furniture moved in ahead of the phased opening of the long awaited
hospital to the first patients on Friday 30 March.
Bristol Infracare LIFT Ltd, the developer of
the hospital, and Carillion, the main construction contractor
handed the keys to the new building over to NHS Bristol and
Victoria Head of Capita Symonds which provided strategic property
and commercial advice to NHS Bristol, as well project management
and technical advisory services to Bristol Community Health.
The urgent care centre at the new hospital -
which will provide walk-in diagnosis and treatment - will be the
first service to open on 30 March. During April the hospital will
become fully operational and will provide a range of outpatient
clinics, diagnostic tests accessed by direct referrals from GPs, 60
inpatient beds for rehabilitation including specialist stroke
rehabilitation, day surgery and endoscopy along with a new
dental teaching facility which will also provide free routine NHS
community dental services.
Deborah Evans, chief executive of NHS Bristol
said; “The handover of the building to the NHS is an exciting
milestone for us. We now enter an intensive phase of activity to
commission the building and finalise the remaining installation of
equipment before we open the doors to the first patients on the 30
March”.
Deborah also paid tribute to the project team
from Bristol Community Health, who, over the last two years,
have led the work on behalf of the local NHS including finalising
the design requirements and selecting and purchasing the
equipment.
The advice and support we have received from Capita Symonds has made a real difference to the outcome of the project. Congratulations on a job well done!
Deborah said “The new social enterprise
Bristol Community Health has worked hand in hand with local people
and with our partners at LIFT and at University Hospitals Bristol
NHS Foundation Trust. They have impressed everyone with their
skill in partnership working and in completing the detailed and
complex task of turning blueprints and plans into a real state of
the art hospital. They can be justifiably proud of this
achievement.”
Ben Bennett, Programme Director of Strategic
Development at NHS Bristol highlighted the contribution to the
success of the project from Capita Symonds: “The advice and support
we have received from Capita Symonds has made a real difference to
the outcome of the project. Congratulations on a job well
done!”
Capita Symonds’ Head of Health David Lawrence
said: “Many of our team, including myself, have worked on the
vision of a new Hospital for South Bristol for many years and
therefore it’s fantastic to see the completion of this magnificent
new facility. It has been a real privilege to work with the
directors and staff at the PCT and the team at Bristol Community
Health as well as dedicated and committed non executive director’s
stakeholders who had the determination and courage to make
difficult commercial and management decisions to make the vision a
reality.”
Photo courtesy of Bristol Evening Post.