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The existing St Mary’s wing |
Hospital plans £50m rebuild of baby units
Another PFI project considered after acute wing delay
THE Whittington Hospital is drawing up plans to build a £50-million wing for women and children.
The Archway hospital, which finally opened a long-delayed acute wing this year, is now turning its sights on revamping its run-down Victorian maternity unit.
Chief executive David Sloman confirmed staff were discussing the project, and added that he believed the existing St Mary’s wing would probably be demolished. It dates from about 1877 and is known for its soaring chimney and open-air, high-rise walkways linking buildings.
He said: “This is part of the hospital that needs to be rebuilt, and we are putting together plans to develop that whole end of the site. That is all underway.”
The final cost is expected to be in the region of £50 million. The wing will have labour wards, paediatric department and special care baby unit.
Mr Sloman said: “It is a complicated planning process, and we are still working out how much the final figure will be.”
Births at the hospital’s consultant-led maternity unit have risen steadily year on year to 3,500 new arrivals in 2006.
Mr Sloman said he was looking at how he could improve current facilities while architects design a new wing. He added: “The process is in two stages: at the moment, in-house, we are looking at what investments we can put in with our existing capital.
“The most important thing is to work out what we want before we employ consultants and architects, although we are talking to quantity surveyors about our plans.”
Mr Sloman said the first stage would be a temporary revamp of existing interiors.
He added: “We want to upgrade the current accommodation while we wait for the full rebuild. It is very busy and we have to make it fresh. We want new toilets, bathrooms, places for families, and rooms that are easy to keep clean.”
Stage two would see the old building pulled down or completely re-designed. The units are spread over four floors. They include pre-natal services, ante-natal services, labour wards and the intensive care unit for babies.
Mr Sloman said: “This building is 100 years old and not suitable. As we are doing more work, we need to ensure we have enough capacity and space.”
Completion of the Whittington’s recently-opened £30-million wing was delayed by two years following the collapse of building company Jarvis, which was a partner in a Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Mr Sloman said the new wing could be another PFI project. He added: “We would consider PFI. We will consider a number of options. The bottom line is we need to make sure we get absolute value for the taxpayers’ money. We could borrow the money, and my eyes are not closed to different ways of funding.
“In terms of the lessons learnt from the previous build, the decision that was made to give Jarvis the contract was at the time right. Nobody could have predicted what happened.
“We had bad luck. We are the only PFI project in the country to have the building company collapse, and today the main thing is we have a great new building.” |
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