Scotland’s Largest NHS Hospital Project Ready for Service
Following a ceremonial key handover in late January, the NHS can settle in at the South Glasgow University Hospital and Royal Hospital for Sick Children campus.
By Balazs Szekely, Associate Editor
Glasgow, Scotland–Following a ceremonial key handover in late January, the NHS can settle in at the South Glasgow University Hospital and Royal Hospital for Sick Children campus. The contractor announced they would move on to the last phase of the master plan, demolishing the old surgical block and completing the landscaping, which is scheduled for completion in Q4 2016. The healthcare complex is Scotland’s largest ever public hospital project and it is being built by Brookfield Multiplex.
The latest phase was delivered five weeks ahead of schedule and under budget according to Brookfield Multiplex. It contains a redeveloped maternity, pediatric and adult hospitals with beds for 256 children, 1,109 beds in single room accommodation in the acute care hospital, 30 modern operating theatres, accident and emergency services as well as a full range of in-patient and day case pediatric services–all integrated onto a single site. The campus includes a further diagnostic laboratory facility which is one of the most advanced worldwide. Completed in 2012, the lab component was also finished on time and under budget. The development also includes three new multi-story car parks and surface parking with a total of 3,500 lots.
The 14 floor South Glasgow adult hospital building is one of the largest acute hospitals in the UK and will soon be home to major specialist services such as renal medicine, transplantation and vascular surgery, with state-of-the-art Critical Care and Diagnostic Services. Each general ward consists of 28 single bedrooms with en-suite facilities. The atrium houses retail shops, a coffee shop and a restaurant/coffee area on the first floor. It is also linked to the laboratory via an underground tunnel and pneumatic tube.
The Royal Hospital for Sick Children will provide medical care to children in a safe, child-friendly environment with a mix of four-bedded and single-bedded rooms. The facility is the successor of the existing Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill. The building is physically linked to the maternity unit and the South Glasgow University Hospital. It includes a covered roof garden where the children can be brought out in their beds.
The National Health Service, commonly referred to as NHS includes the four publicly funded health care systems in the countries of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland, NHS Wales and NHS Scotland. Each operates independently while politically accountable to the relevant government.
