New Scunthorpe A&E department said to relieve hospital pressures
A new accident and emergency department opens today
Last updated 16th Mar 2023
With some patients left waiting on beds in corridors in hospitals across East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire - bosses say a new A&E building that's opening in Scunthorpe today will relieve this problem.
The team at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust are welcoming their first patients to the new Scunthorpe Emergency Department– just five months after the opening of its sister facility in Grimsby.
The ÂŁ17.3 million unit has almost doubled the size of their existing department.
It will include:
More than doubled the capacity of the waiting area to cope with demand and social distancing requirements
More cubicles, which have been designed to enable flexible use, which will help manage surges in patient numbers and make it easier to meet individual patient needs.
A dedicated ambulance bay, reducing the time to transfer patients arriving by ambulance into the hospital.
Play area for children.
Peter Reading, chief executive of NLaG, said:
“When patients are in here, they will not be left sitting in or on trollies in corridors which they are at the moment. We deeply regret that and I very much apologise but this department means we wont have to do that.
“The addition of this excellent new Emergency Department to our hospital is part of our ongoing commitment to investing in the long-term healthcare of our communities across northern Lincolnshire and Goole."
Senior Responsible Officer for the project and Director of Estates and Facilities, Jug Johal, has overseen the project, he said:
“Unfortunately, in order to build the new department, we needed to demolish some of our older buildings, including the Administration Block which had been part of the original Scunthorpe and District War Memorial Hospital.
“This included the striking archway over the main entrance, which included the inscription Scunthorpe General Hospital and a 1929 date stone, along with memorial cornerstones bearing the dates 1914 and 1918 in memory of those lost in the First World War."