Representatives from NHS Property services recently joined members of a local community in the New Forest to celebrate the official opening of the new Hythe and Dibden War Memorial Hospital in Southampton.
The new site – which began welcoming patients last November – includes a new diagnostics suite with X-ray and ultrasound services offered to patients. Sir Julian Lewis, MP for New Forest East, formally opened the new building at a community celebration event attended by dozens of local residents. A plaque was also presented to John Carr, Chair of the hospital’s League of Friends, naming the new imaging suite after him following his many years of support.
Susan Swaffer, Relationship director for NHSPS, said: “After working collaboratively with our NHS partners to deliver this fantastic project, we are genuinely thrilled to be able to celebrate with them the official opening of the new Hythe and Dibden War Memorial Hospital. We are proud to have delivered a welcoming, inclusive, state-of-the-art facility, and are confident the new hospital will help to create a positive experience for patients, visitors, and the staff who care for them here.”
NHSPS says the redevelopment has been ‘delivered to the highest quality standards, and designed to provide the local community with a place that provides efficient, flexible, modern accommodation which will house existing services, as well as opening up new opportunities, increasing integration and co-ordination of care, and reducing pressure on nearby acute centres, both now and in the years to come’.
The project involved collaboration across a number of organisations, including NHS Property Services, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, Kier, GBP consultants, and the many NHS providers who will use the building, including the local Primary Care Network, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, and University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.
Catherine Bowell, Interim MD for South West Hampshire, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, said: “I am so pleased to see this brilliant new building open for our local community, and to be able to celebrate the day with so many partners and colleagues who have helped over many years to build the new hospital. The hospital is bringing services closer to the homes of 80,000 local people, and was a truly joined-up effort with the community and the NHS”.
Simon Godfree, Project manager at Kier, added: “We are proud to have successfully completed the redevelopment of Hythe and Dibden War Memorial Hospital for NHS Property Services, which was procured through the SCF Framework. The building will serve as a local hub, providing a welcoming and positive experience for patients, visitors, and staff.
“The original hospital was opened as a memorial to those who lost their lives in World War One, and this has been taken forward into the new design. This includes the etched concrete and glass memorial, and images of the former hospital displayed in key areas.”
Gary Naylor, MD at gbpartnerships, which supported the re-build programme, commented: “Developments such as the Hythe and Dibden War Memorial Hospital come about by strong partnership working and lots of hard work. It’s been a pleasure to work on this important project – from the development of the business case, through to overseeing the design and construction of the project on behalf of NHS Property Services.”
The gbpartnerships team was appointed through the local NHS LIFT Company, Hampshire Estates Partnership, to develop the Full Business Case, and then go onto oversee the design and construction of the project on behalf of NHS Property Services.
