Pictured: Former Burnley MP Gordon Birtwistle, Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson, Kevin McGee, Professor Eileen Fairhurst and Burnley MP Julie Cooper attend the event at Burnley General Teaching Hospital
A traditional ground breaking has taken place to mark the start of construction on the new £15.6 million ‘Phase 8’ development at Burnley General Teaching Hospital.
NHS, Council, UCLan and MP colleagues joined Chief Executive Kevin McGee and Chairman, Professor Eileen Fairhurst for the ceremony on the building site facing Casterton Avenue.
ELHT Chief Executive Kevin McGee said: “I’m delighted to see so many people here who have been instrumental in making this exciting new development at Burnley General Hospital happen. Phase 8 represents significant investment and commitment in the site. Not only will it provide modern, high quality facilities for our existing services but it has presented us with the opportunity to improve the way we deliver the services within it.”
The ground breaking ceremony was followed by a three-hour Open Day during which hospital staff, patients and local residents met the Phase 8 project team and representatives from construction partner Vinci-IHP and Gilling Dod architects.
The development will deliver significant improvements to our patients’ environments. The ground floor Outpatients Department will pull together three separate departments into one easy access location. Twenty surgical and medical clinics will be held in the 21 consulting rooms. and a dedicated blood room, an important specialist facility the existing outpatient facilities do not have.
The bespoke build of the new maxillo-facial unit will be better equipped and designed to meet the increased demand for the service, releasing capacity for more maxillofacial operations and clinics. Also housed on the ground floor, the unit will comprise a laboratory, four consulting rooms and a minor procedures theatre, which all supports the potential for developing ‘One Stop’ clinics in the future.
The new Ophthalmology Centre, located on the first floor, will feature two theatres, eight clinic rooms, laser room, day unit and computerised tomography (CT) room. The carefully designed unit will be able to carry out diagnostics, day surgery, including laser treatments, and emergency eye care.
Local residents have been patiently watching the site preparation by construction partner Vinci-IHP since March. They now eagerly await the completion in autumn 2019.
"Today signifies a massive achievement as we see the latest phase of our £60 million investment in Burnley General Teaching Hospital start to become a reality,” added Kevin McGee.