Blackpool Teaching Hospitals win full business case approval for new Emergency Village

Architect’s plan of the new SDEC (Same Day Emergency Care)

Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre residents are guaranteed to benefit from enhanced emergency and critical care development thanks to agreed funding from NHS England and NHS Improvement.

The Emergency Village and Critical Care development, based at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, will benefit from £13million towards the scheme which will encompass a three storey purpose built unit for critical care and same day emergency care, allowing the current emergency department to expand.

Project lead for the development, Nigel Fort, said: “We are delighted to have the Full Business Case (FBC) accepted by NHS England/Improvement following a culmination of two year’s work.

“The £13million is a considerable investment in improving the emergency and critical care serving Blackpool and the Fylde coast.

“The Trust is already seeing the early benefits to our patients, having brought works forward by two years following a successful bid of more than £2million from the Government’s fund to upgrade facilities for winter 2020. The new emergency department waiting room and minors’ area were opened earlier this year.

“The whole project team are really excited to deliver the rest of the development which includes a three-storey building to house a new critical care floor and a Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) department.”

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust opened the first phase of the ambitious and innovative new facilities earlier this year and two years ahead of schedule through a successful Government fund bid of £2million. A new waiting room and area for people with minor injuries and illnesses to be treated safely and effectively was opened in January.

Staff in the Emergency Department (ED) are already making full use of the improvements to implement new ways of working and are supporting a high number of patients who need emergency or critical care. This includes using the extra space to deliver quicker and more effective ambulance handovers at a time of incredibly high demand for paramedics.

A separate mental health urgent assessment centre has also been opened next to the emergency department in conjunction with Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust. This enables the mental health liaison team to be nearby and able to offer assessments in a more appropriate setting.

Emergency Department lead for the development, Dr Adeline Israel, said: This is the good news that we have been waiting to hear!

“The opening of the first phase of the Emergency Village has already given us a real boost in terms of safety, comfort and morale and that was just the beginning. With the FBC now being approved, we can keep achieving higher goals as our hopes have an anchor.

“We are dedicated to working harder to ensure that the best possible journey, quality of care and outcomes for our patients are reached through the transformational changes this brings. This sets the ball rolling for exciting milestones to be passed in the near future.

“This is a golden opportunity that we all have, and we need to work together to realise its enormous benefits to our patients. We can thus leave a legacy for our Trust.

“It is our aspiration that it will serve as a model of excellence that others can emulate, and I excitedly look forward it! “

You can follow the progress of the project on  social media; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BTHEmergencyVillage and Twitter: @BTH_EVandCC.

A 3D flythrough of the new SDEC department can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBLHp8OYF58

Posted in Emergency Village.