27/05/2010

Major revamp for Bronglais Hospital scheme

Plans for the £45 million Bronglais Hospital Front-of-House Scheme are being re-written because hospital planners have worked out new solutions to problems posed by the site.

The major changes to the scheme, which is the largest capital investment in the whole of Hywel Dda Health Board, has been prompted by hospital consultants expressing concern at the distance patients would have to travel between the proposed new operating theatres and the current intensive care unit. A review has concluded that existing theatres could instead be refurbished, leading to a massive saving of space in the scheme. New plans are now being worked on which it is hoped will provide new day surgery facilities not previously included whilst still managing to reduce the scheme from five storeys down to three. This, and the likely reduction in timescale for the work, will be a massive boost for local residents who are currently subject to considerable disruption from the ongoing development work.

As reported previously on this blog, the scheme will ultimately provide a badly needed new Accident & Emergency department alongside a 14-bed medical assessment unit, all directly accessible from the Penglais Hill side of the site where another deck will be put on the current main car park.

As I write the car park is closed whilst drainage works are completed and the building of the extra deck commences. This, together with the demolition of the old maternity unit (the white buildings in the back of the picture in which many local people were born), is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, allowing car parking on site again and paving the way for the new block to be built. In the meantime the hospital has arranged an interim car park on the Llanbadarn University campus and runs a regular shuttle bus from there to the hospital.

The whole scheme was scheduled for completion in August 2014 but it’s now hoped that date can be brought forward.