Work on new multi-million Walsall critical care unit underway
Work on a long-awaited new multi-million pound critical care unit at Walsall Manor Hospital will begin in December, health chiefs have confirmed.
Construction of the planned West Wing unit will take 70 weeks to complete meaning it should be finished in spring 2016.
The £8.3 million facility will have 18 beds and is combining the high dependency and intensive therapy departments.
It was agreed to make it bigger than first expected by health chiefs earlier this year to cope with increasing patient numbers from Staffordshire. This was at a cost of more than £2m extra.
Health bosses have said the new unit will be an asset to the hospital and the patients at Walsall Manor.
Colin Plant, divisional director for estates and facilities at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust said: "Planned works on our Integrated Critical Care Unit are due to start in December this year and will continue for 70 weeks with our new unit set to open in spring 2016.
"This development is an exciting one for the trust and will mean that our High Dependency Unit and our Intensive Care Unit are integrated, so that patients who are critically ill or who are more highly dependent will be treated in the same place, at the same time, enabling a smooth step up or down transition where necessary.
"The unit will be an asset to the trust and will mean that we can go even further in ensuring we provide patients with the best possible care."
Walsall Manor currently has capacity for 13 beds within the two existing units.
The initial intention of the new facility, which has received the go-ahead from the Trust Development Authority, is to run at 16 beds.
But it is anticipated there will be more patients using the hospital following the downgrading of Stafford Hospital, meaning the need to create extra capacity for the long-term.
The critical care unit is part of an overall transformation of the site which includes an A&E revamp and maternity improvements. A decant ward with 30 beds is also due to open later this year.
However, full funding for the initial plans worth more than £30m is so far not in place, with the trust being £6m short, with bosses now working to get all the cash in place.
It comes after the Government allocated £4.4m less than than the £14m the health trust requested to upgrade, in light of the Stafford situation.
