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Search forCrash girls to open £6.9m care facility
Wednesday, August 27, 2008, 07:00
Estelle Wood and Sarah Thom said they would be honoured to open the £6.9 million Department of Intensive Care Medicine, which bosses say has some of the best facilities in the UK.
Estelle, 16, of Tamerton Foliot, and Sarah, 17, from Torpoint, received life-saving care at the hospital following separate traffic collisions at the end of last year.
Ian Wren, matron and directorate manager, took The Herald on an exclusive tour prior to the purpose-built unit's official launch on Friday. It will receive its first patients on Monday.
He said the new 28-bed facility, on level four of the Terence Lewis Building, was 'a massive improvement' on the cramped and outdated wards in the main hospital which it replaced.
"I don't think there's any unit better than this in the country," he said. "It has involved a lot of design and planning, we have visited units at home and abroad and I really believe we compare internationally."
Estelle, who is recovering after being struck by a car in Woolwell last November, said: "I'm honoured to be opening the new centre. Everyone in the old unit had a part to play in my recovery. They did a brilliant job, and without them I wouldn't be here."
Sarah, who spent weeks in Derriford after colliding with a bus as she walked across Mannamead Road in December, said: "It feels amazing that the hospital has asked me to do this.
"We're so lucky in Plymouth to have a facility like this so close to home, and now it's going to be even better."
With two main wards, specialist side rooms and about £1.3 million-worth of equipment, the new unit has taken a year to fit out after the shell was finished last year.
At 2,000sq m, it has about three times the floor space of the old units, plus two more beds – costing more than £450,000 a year each to run.
"We've just completely outgrown the old areas in terms of bed space and facilities," said Ian.
"The old general critical care unit was originally designed for six beds and now has up to 19. Some of the bed spaces have gone from eight square metres to 25 square metres, which is in line with recommendations."
The new unit would bring enormous improvements for patients and staff, he said, including more natural light and easier infection control.
The new facilities bring together the general and neuro critical care units, currently on level four of the main building. The old facilities will be used as additional neurosurgical beds and day-case recovery areas.
The new unit comprises the 14-bed Penrose unit, for general critical care, and the 14-bed Pencarrow unit, for neuro critical care, seven small side rooms for private care, a reception area, interview rooms for patients' relatives, a kitchen and staff offices.
New equipment includes beds which convert into armchairs at the touch of a button, ventilators and patient monitoring systems.
It will have 150 staff, including an extra four nursing staff and one more consultant. About 1,700 patients from across the South West will pass through its doors each year.
The unit has been paid for out of Plymouth Hospital NHS Trust's financial surplus, and is part of a 10-year improvement strategy at Derriford Hospital.
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IMPRESSIVE: Above, Matron Peacha Heys with directorate manager Ian Wren in the new ICU at Derriford; top left and left: the new intensive care unit has 28 beds and employs 150 staff members
Congestion charging could be introduced on the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry as part of a pricing strategy overhaul, bosses have revealed.
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