An £11.5m investment to expand and enhance our Critical Care departments is well underway – with work due to be completed at both our hospitals by the end of this year.

At Queen’s Hospital we’re creating a purpose-built, modern Critical Care unit on the fourth floor, which replaces the current unit on Sky A ward and is in addition to our unit on the ground floor.

This space, previously used for storage, is being transformed into a 15-bed Critical Care Unit, which, due to its flexible design, has the capacity to increase to 25 beds in times of higher demand.

At King George Hospital we’re reconfiguring and modernising our existing unit. We’re adding four additional beds, creating a 12-bed unit. This has been made possible by utilising space which was previously a corridor of management offices.

The new layout allows four beds to become full isolation rooms, while the other eight are in pairs which can be closed off with sliding doors, giving us more options for isolation and reducing risk to other patients.

Vikki Butler, our Director of Clinical Service Reconfiguration, said: “We’ve used lessons that we’ve learned during the pandemic in our design on the new unit.

“There is better use of space and improved ventilation, giving us lots more options when it comes to infection control, and a much better experience for our patients.”

Both Critical Care Units are due to open to patients by the end of this year, helping us manage winter pressures, particularly during the ongoing pandemic.