L- R: Catherine Parker, Project Manager, Strategy & Transformation, University Hospitals Dorset, Jessica Tyler, Fundraising Manager (The BEACH Appeal), University Hospitals Dorset NHS Charity, Caroline Fawcett, Lead Play Specialist, Children's Health, University Hospitals Dorset, Ali Pressage, Estates Health Planner, Works Department, University Hospitals Dorset, Stephen Killen, Transformation Director, University Hospitals Dorset. Credit: Dorset Biz News/Giles Gwinnett
Published: August 16, 2024 | Updated: 19th August 2024
Royal Bournemouth Hospital’s new BEACH Building, which represents a huge transformation of healthcare in Dorset, is said to be “on time and on budget”.
Ground was broken on the six-storey state-of-the art block in March, 2021 and completion is earmarked for this December. Moving in is set to begin in late March or early April next year.
The acronym stands for the Births, Emergency, Critical Care, and Children’s Health (BEACH) facilities in the building, which forms part of a £500 million capital development spend across the Trust’s three sites in Christchurch, Bournemouth and Poole.
Notably, it will see emergency services focused at the BEACH Building in a new ground-floor department, which will be larger than both the current services at Poole and Bournemouth put together.
Poole will retain a walk-in-emergency service but ambulance admissions will all go to Bournemouth.
The University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) NHS Foundation Trust has said the consolidated emergency department could benefit 31,000 out-of-hours patients a year, giving them quicker access to treatment.
The opening of the BEACH Building also means around 2,000 staff from Poole will be redeployed at Bournemouth, said the Trust, which employs around 10,000 people across its sites.
A key component of the improved emergency department will be a specially designed diagnostics hub, which will be home to a CT scanner, provided by statutory funding.
University Hospitals Dorset NHS Charity’s BEACH Appeal is also looking to raise £800,000 for a second scanner, which will allow between 13,000 and 15,000 more patients to be scanned each year.
The design of the new radiology hub within the emergency department at the BEACH Building has been described as “revolutionary” by Matthew Benbow, CT and MRI superintendent radiographer.
“Having the additional CT scanner allows us to do so much more for our patients. It will also reduce the demands on our porters as the scans can be done right away in the Emergency Department,” he said.
The BEACH Appeal, launched in April this year, has a target of £1.5 million to pay for additional ‘nice-to-haves’ at the BEACH Building, while all the clinical infrastructure is funded by the NHS.
So far, The BEACH Appeal has brought in £266,000.
Apart from the second scanner, among the items earmarked by the charity appeal, are funds for kitting out a new wellbeing garden, next to the critical care unit, which aims to provide outdoor space for patients and staff.
It also wants to fund resources at indoor and outdoor play areas in the children’s health department at the top of the building. These include interactive games consoles, arts and craft materials and child-friendly furnishings.
The BEACH Appeal is also raising funds to be used on spaces to support mental wellbeing and for sleep pods for junior doctors.
On a tour showcasing how construction is progressing at the BEACH Building, members of the media were shown different departments on each floor, including emergency, critical care, children’s health and the new maternity unit.
St Mary’s maternity hospital in Poole is poised to close and services will be moved over to Bournemouth from next April.
The new and enhanced maternity unit has 15 birthing rooms, seven with pools, along with two specialist bereavement rooms and one higher dependency room.
It is estimated that 4,400 women will benefit from an improved birth experience due to the new facilities.
The huge 23,000 square metre BEACH Building incorporates modern methods of construction (MMC) and has been built to ‘net zero’. Around 58% of the construction workforce live within a 25 mile radius.
The building is the size of 115 tennis courts, offers far-reaching views and will surely mark a massive change to the county’s healthcare landscape.
Siobhan Harrington, chief executive of UHD NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Across beautiful Dorset, our dedicated teams care for hundreds of thousands of patients every single year and we want to make sure our hospitals are fit for the future.”
