An acute admissions unit (AAU) said to be the largest in the UK has arrived on site at Watford General Hospital.
The 142 steel-framed modules, recently delivered to site and craned into position, are being supplied as part of a £25 million ProCure21 contract awarded to Medicinq Osborne by the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust. The scheme is believed to be the UK healthcare sector’s largest modular building project to date.
The steel-framed modules, constructed off-site by Yorkon in a £12 million contract, are “substantially complete”, with partitions, electrics, plumbing, sanitary ware and finishes already in place, reducing the programme time by up to 50% and minimising disruption to patient care at the hospitals.
Scheduled for completion early this summer, the new facility, linked to the existing A&E unit, will offer rapid assessment and consultant-led diagnosis for emergency cases “to improve the patient experience” and, Medicinq Osborne, claims, “dramatically reduce the long-term effects of serious conditions such as strokes and heart attacks”.
Designed by Murphy Philips Architects, the AAU will provide 120 beds for emergency admissions, two cardiac catheterisation laboratories, diagnostics including X-ray, ultrasound and CT scanning, a new hospital pharmacy with robotic dispensing, a library, and a roof-top plant room.
