The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby, recently visited the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford in Kent to praise staff for their ‘faithful and tenacious service’, and bless the hospital’s new Intensive Care Unit, due to open later this month.
During the visit he heard from nurses, doctors, and hospital chaplains, about their experiences of caring for patients throughout the pandemic, and spent time with patients recovering from serious illnesses. Funded by £14 million in national NHS investment, the new modular Intensive Care Unit was recently completed by specialist in Modern Methods of Construction, MTX. It features a 24 bed ICU ward, served by two new dedicated plant rooms, plus ancillary accommodation such as offices, and changing and training rooms, spread across two storeys. The unit was built on a steel gantry, with the new ward linking directly into the first floor of the existing hospital street, in close proximity to the current live wards.
The Archbishop heard how the significantly expanded unit will benefit patients and staff; it is designed to provide the hospital’s sickest patients with the very best care and experience, shaped by learning from the COVID pandemic. It will also include new treatment areas for adults and children, and improved waiting areas and staff facilities.
Blessing the ‘extraordinary new unit’ the Archbishop prayed for the staff who he said ‘give nights, days, and weekends, Christmases, and holidays, to work and serve here, and whose deep emotional commitment is to the wellbeing of patients and staff’.
A&E nurses also showed the Archbishop inside the hospital’s newly expanded Emergency Department. Tracey Fletcher, CEO of East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The experience gained through the challenges of the pandemic has enabled our clinical teams to design and assist in delivering an outstanding new Critical Care Unit and a major expansion of the Emergency Department that will significantly help us improve care for our patients.”
Director at MTX, David Peacock, said: “It’s an absolute honour to have our new ICU project at the William Harvey Hospital blessed by the Archbishop. Thanks to Modern Methods of Construction, the hospital has been able to reap the advantages of its extension much quicker, and with less disruption to healthcare services, than would have been achievable had the new facilities been built using traditional on-site construction methods.”
