An ‘exciting vision’ for the future of West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven, and the health and wellbeing of people in West Cumbria has been revealed by North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, with what the Trust says are ‘ huge opportunities for people in the community to help shape how it will look’.
The ‘future vision’ will build on plans to further redevelop the hospital site, including a health village and a ‘one health’ education facility, with accommodation and university research experts working with the Trust to address some of the regional and social health care challenges.
Last July, NHS England announced the Trust would receive between £30m and £50 m to further refurbish and redevelop the hospital, and work has already started on how that can help shape the future design of the site. Architect’s impressions From Gilling Dod Architects – appointed to help take forward planning and design – show how the hospital might develop into a ‘health and care campus’ over the coming years.
Professor John Howarth, deputy chief executive at North Cumbria University Hospitals and Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (pictured), explained that the Trust’s plans to integrate health and care services ‘over the coming months and years’ could include not only, as it does now, providing acute services, but also primary care services and a new education facility in partnership with the University of Central Lancashire.”
Sean Kember, director of Gilling Dod Architects, said: “The prospect of a health campus on the West Cumberland Hospital site provides an exciting opportunity for the local community, and we look forward to working with the project team, staff, and the local community, on this multi-agency collaboration, to build on the achievements delivered in the initial phase of hospital development, which opened in October 2015.”
To allow for future developments, enabling works are currently being carried out by Thomas Armstrong, which has been appointed main contractor. They are focussed on works to allow for future demolition of the old buildings at the front of the hospital. Work has also just started on developing a new permanent suite for breast screening, cardiology, and vascular services, which will be located in the old Fairfield ward. The Henderson chemotherapy unit will also soon be relocated to a temporary new home in the old maternity block.
The practice added: “Gilling Dod is delighted to be involved once more at West Cumberland Hospital completing the job we started in 2009 by developing the new phase 2 scheme. This will complete the ‘whole hospital’ design, and allow for the removal / demolition of the outdated building stock.
“The new development will bring all the Trust’s outpatient services into the main hospital, and centralise inpatient services in a state-of-the-art new build hospital that will generate efficiencies, improve patient wellbeing, and create a flexible facility that can support the variety of services delivered by North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust.”
