From next Monday, 25th May, colleagues will notice site setup at CRH for three significant internal development schemes -maternity floor, catheter labs and plant room. Hoarding and equipment will be brought on site for building work to start from early July, including two large cranes.
The work will take around nine months during which all services will continue to run as usual.
Departments and teams located next to, or above or below Maternity, Cardiology, and the plant room will experience some noise and vibration during working hours, which will be Monday to Friday, 07:30 to 17:00.
Thank you for your understanding during this work.
A new maternity floor
This work will bring our maternity services all on to one dedicated floor, leading to improved safety and quality for women and families. The work includes building an additional dedicated maternity theatre and relocating the Birth Centre onto the first floor. The work will be happening where the Old Physiotherapy Department was located.
There will be a diversion route in place for colleagues, including emergency access to the department. From Monday, 25th July, please access the department using Lift Block 2. A map is attached to help.
Maternity will be communicating with women and families, and information will also be available on the CHFT website. Privacy and dignity for women and families will be maintained at all times.
People will still be able to enter the department through the Women’s and Children’s Entrance.
Twin Catheter Lab and Cardiology Day Case unit
We are building a new purpose-built Cardiology Day Case Unit and two new Catheter Labs in the existing Cardiology Department and adjacent clinical space on the ground floor at CRH. This work will bring our Catheter Labs, Day Case Unit and Cardiology Department into the same area on the ground floor, providing a more efficient and future-proof service, and give our patients a better experience.
Patients will be able to recover post procedure from the Catheter Lab until discharge, for planned treatment and/or investigations, which means they may not need an inpatient admission.
Plant room
We are also undertaking work in our plant room to make sure we have the technical infrastructure in place to support the new Catheter Labs and Maternity Floor.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How noisy will the work be?
Once the building work begins in early July, we expect there to be noise within departments, and those neighbouring areas from significant construction work. Patients are being supported through their health care teams to make adjustments where possible. Noise is only expected during working hours which will be Monday to Friday, 07:30 to 17:00.
Our Reconfiguration team will be speaking to departments who will be affected by any noise or vibration.
Thank you for bearing with us during this work.
Why are we doing this work now?
These internal developments will significantly improve quality, safety and patient experience. We need to do these works ahead of construction on our new hospital building which will start later on this year. These developments are part of making sure we have the right setup within CRH to enable all unplanned care to be based at CRH from 2029, marking an important step in our Foundations for our Future programme.
Will there be any impact on car parking spaces?
No. This work will not impact on parking at CRH.
How will you be making patients aware of this work?
Maternity and Cardiology will be contacting all their patients with future appointments, and new patients directly. There will be information about the work on the CHFT website, and we will also share information using our established communication channels.
How will you be letting departments know?
We will continue to share information through CHFT internal communications. The Reconfiguration team are speaking to departments about the planned work.
