Stamford Hospital treatment centre plans revealed

Plans for a proposed new hospital building costing £15.7million have been revealed.

Stamford Hospital looks likely to benefit from a new centre for non-emergency day surgeries and other treatments.

Currently, 29 members of staff work in the Greenwood Day Surgery Unit and associated Dronfield Suite, and that team would move across to the new building.

The centre would be constructed on the footprint of the nurses’ accommodation that was bulldozed earlier this year. The government has allocated £15.7m for the project.

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) was used in some of Stamford Hospital’s buildings constructed since the 1950s. Found in schools and hospitals across the country, Raac is a problem because as it ages it can put buildings at risk of collapse.

Speaking at an information evening held by North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust yesterday (Thursday, November 16), Prof Steve Barnett, trust chairman, said: “When I first moved to the area, the discussion was about closing Stamford Hospital, but this has gone full circle.

“It is now considered one of the jewels in our crown and having secured government funding is a fantastic achievement.”

He added that the new building would benefit local people because they could avoid going into larger hospitals for surgery and other treatments.

Matron at Stamford Hospital, Caroline Robertson, said: “There is not one single patient who I’ve spoken to that thinks this is a bad thing.

“There is a real tingle of excitement. Staff have been waiting for 40 years for this sort of development and I’m not retiring until it is in place.”

Deputy sister Lorna Johnson, said the replacement of the Greenwood unit and the Dronfield suite would mean staff working in a building that was ‘fit for purpose’.

“The new building will bring together the two areas in which we work,” she said.

The two-floor building has been designed by architect Clive Guyer to include en suite ‘cabins’ for patients - a space where they can have privacy while they change and prepare for surgery, and spend time recovering afterwards.

Clive has ensured the planned centre could be extended in future, as more buildings on the Stamford site are replaced, and that it is ‘sympathetic’ to Stamford’s built heritage, particularly the oldest parts of the hospital, which date from 1828.

Although it has funding and the NHS trust is about to select a company to build the centre, it still needs planning permission from South Kesteven District Council.

However, the new-build would be a similar height to the former nurses accommodation that was demolished, and would occupy the same area of ground.

Chris Howard, senior project leader, said the centre was expected to take 14 months to build and, once completed, the Greenwood unit and Dronfield suite would be demolished. They hope work could be complete by spring 2025.

The hospital trust is also considering a new name for the treatment centre, to prevent it being confused with an ‘urgent treatment centre’, an NHS facility providing immediate help for people who have suffered a non-life-threatening injury or illness.

Stamford does not have an urgent treatment centre but changing the current, GP-run minor injuries unit at Stamford Hospital into an urgent treatment centre was discussed earlier this year.

What do you think about the hospital trust’s plans to provide a new centre for day surgery and other treatments at the Stamford site?

Email your views to suzanne.moon@iliffepublishing.co.uk