Sloping site proves bonus, not barrier

As HEJ editor Jonathan Baillie reports, last November’s completion of the £6.5 million theatre complex means the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust will no longer, in the face of growing demand, need to send some 600 patients annually to private hospitals in the area for their operation.

Built on a sloping site at the heart of the Leicester General Hospital campus in Evington, about three miles east of Leicester city centre, the new operating theatre complex saw its first patients late last November. It was subsequently officially opened by former England rugby union captain and Leicester Tiger Martin Corry on 17 December. The four new theatres, each of which is equipped with MAT laminar flow canopies to minimise infection risk during surgery, were designed by architects Nightingale Associates after consultation with surgeons, anaesthetists, nursing, and other theatre personnel. Subsequently, a number of changes to the original layout, functionality, and services, which were suggested by members of the multidisciplinary project team as the construction work progressed, were successfully incorporated by MTX. The new theatres link seamlessly to the existing hospital at first floor level; connection is via two new bridges, and via a corridor into a dirty utility area serving general theatres. MTX also built and incorporated into the new modular building a patient reception area and holding bay, a six-bed recovery area with a separate isolation/anaesthetic block room, staff change rooms, a large rest area, offices, and three large stores. Also part of its £4.2 m contract were the construction of a new modular-built preoperative orthopaedic assessment unit close to an existing orthopaedic theatre which remains in use, and refurbishment of existing facilities in the same location.

Unexpected benefits