Our new emergency department
Emergency department and day surgery unit development Access to the Hospital during the development
Emergency department and day surgery unit development
Building work has now started on Frimley Park Hospital on a new Emergency Department, day surgery unit and helicopter landing pad.
Contractors VINCI have put up hoardings and started on the £20m project which will provide an A&E service and day surgery capacity fit for the 21st century.
Following planning permission from Surrey Heath Borough Council last year and final funding approval from the Board of Directors at Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the development shown in the architect's image (right) is expected to be opened in the spring of 2012.
This project will greatly improve the experience for many of our patients, with state-of-the-art facilities in a much better environment and a second access road to take pressure off the main hospital roundabout.
Our current A&E is run by a superb consultant-led team but the number of patients they treat has surpassed the building's capacity and at busy times it can be difficult to maintain privacy and dignity.
The new development will mean:
- More space and extra resuscitation stations
- More single rooms
- Improved privacy and dignity
- Helicopter access
- Improved infection control and patient safety
- Purpose-built Clinical Decisions Unit and Day Surgery Unit next to the Emergency Department.
The extra day surgery theatres on the first floor will enable the hospital to treat more patients using advanced medical techniques that improve patient recovery. This is less stressful for patients and more efficient for the hospital. The new unit will be laid out in the best possible way to meet modern standards with greater patient privacy and more space for doctors and specialist nurses to work.
The planned helipad, which will be used to admit and transfer some of the most critically ill and injured patients, will be on the roof of the two-storey extension with a dedicated lift linking it directly to the resuscitation area.
Enabling work is currently taking place at the front of the hospital. This is providing a new emergency and staff access road, site security office and ambulance area.
Disabled parking bays have been relocated to the ground floor of the main car park closest to the hospital.
For safety reasons the trust is asking drivers and pedestrians to take extra care while work progresses and abide by any signs, especially as some features such as crossings, walkways and traffic direction may change. For example the hospital's Entrance B, located next to the Ophthalmology Department (Eye Unit), is currently closed.
We will of course try to continue to keep disruption to a minimum and apologise for any inconvenience caused, but hope you will bear with us while the new development takes shape. Where possible we will notify you of any significant developments on this website.
Services will continue to operate as normal in the current A&E and day surgery unit during the building work.
Work has now started on the main build for Frimley Park Hospital's new emergency department, day surgery unit and helipad.
Hoarding around the site development went up on 18 April and the new access road on to the site is open for use by ambulances, buses, staff and delivery vehicles.
Building work will continue for the next year, during which time the hospital's current emergency department will continue to operate as normal. The trust is asking members of the public to help them ensure public safety and retain good access for emergency ambulances over this period by following all parking and dropping off guidance.
- The entrance to Frimley Park for patients and visitors will not change. Patients and visitors should continue to use the entrance via the main hospital roundabout on the Portsmouth Road. However, access this way should improve for patients and visitors due to fewer vehicles needing to use it. The new access road is for use by ambulances, buses, staff and delivery vehicles only.
- There are five 'drop off' spaces opposite the physiotherapy entrance. For the benefit of all concerned, it is important that these are not used as parking spaces and we ask that drivers park in the main car park once they have dropped their passengers off.
- Once the protective site hoarding has been erected, people attending the emergency department under their own steam and not by ambulance may also be dropped off here and accompanied to the emergency department entrance which will be found to the left of the hospital's main entrance. However, once again we ask that drivers return to their car as soon as possible and park in the main car park, freeing up the drop off space for others who need it.
- The first 15 minutes from the issue of a car parking ticket for the main car park is free.
- Please could all drivers respect areas clearly marked for emergency vehicles so that the most sick or seriously injured patients can be cared for promptly - in some situations, every second counts.
- For your own safety, please take extra care on foot at the front of the hospital and abide by any signs. Pedestrian access will change while building work progresses.
Over the last few months, enabling works have been carried out at the hospital to prepare for the new building. Visitors to the hospital will find a new security office and pay station with a new bus stop nearby.
More information will be posted on a display board at the front of the hospital.
Thank you for bearing with us while the building work progresses. We are trying to keep disruption to a minimum but unfortunately some is unavoidable while we build this wonderful new facility for the most acutely ill patients.
