Britspace has completed what is reportedly the UK’s largest off-site built hospital extension to date. The five-storey, 9,000 m2 extension at Sunderland Royal Hospital, comprising ward blocks and an integrated critical care unit (ICCU), increases patient capacity from 970 to 1,108.
The 18-bedded ICCU incorporates 13 main soundproofed individual patient rooms designed to optimise segregation and minimise infection spread. The building is formed from 106 steelframe modules, some up to 19 m long. Internally, features include “smart” switchable glass-walled patient rooms and corridors. Separate corridors for visitors, staff, and deliveries, increase patient privacy and further reduce infection spread risk. Other key features include mobile, ceiling-mounted “arms’ incorporating medical gases and cabling, wireless staff communication systems, an electronic pharmacy with staff fingerprint recognition technology, and an advanced patient monitoring system. Each ICCU room has its own computer for nursing staff to access X-rays, scans, and patient notes, and is equipped with a two-way clinical waste bin, which can be emptied without entering. There are also four “barrier rooms”, with entry via an “airlock” system.
