VIDEO | Blackpool Emergency Village gains momentum
Plans for a £13m redevelopment of Blackpool Victoria Hospital’s Emergency Village have been finalised, ahead of the submission of a business case to draw down Government funding.
The development will see a critical care building constructed behind the current emergency department and urgent care centre. The existing high dependency unit and intensive care units will move to free up room for the emergency department to expand.
The board is set to submit its full business case for the development to the Government in July. It is anticipated that the critical care unit will open in March 2022, and the expanded Emergency Village site will open by August 2023.
A contractor is set to be appointed in the coming weeks.
The progression of the scheme follows consultations with staff, patient panels, and external agencies.
In 2018, the health and social care secretary Matt Hancock released £963m of funding for health facilities across England, and Blackpool’s Emergency Village was allotted £13m of this fund. The business case will be submitted to unlock this funding.
Rob Thompson, Emergency Village clinical lead for critical care, said: “The new unit will include rehabilitation areas in a space fit for purpose. The new patient rooms will also be more appropriate for the critical care environment.”
Adeline Israel, Emergency Village clinical lead for the emergency department, said: “Currently our exceptional staff work under extremely challenging conditions of constrained space, shortage of manpower and high influx of patients with a wide range of needs.
“The Emergency Village could potentially close the gap on resources by providing the right space and design, robust processes and pathways and attract manpower by offering a training environment that will be second to none.
“This, combined with education of the public to visit ED only during a medical emergency, will go a long way to make it a centre of excellence.
“The Emergency Village offers the hope of a much better environment for the staff to enhance patient experience and deliver high quality of care with improved outcomes. This hope continues to drive and motivate us. Therefore, I am encouraged to strive towards making this vision a reality soon.”
A fly-through of the Critical Care Unit has been created by architect Gilling Dod.
