Two state-of-the-art new hospital wards have opened at the Western Community Hospital in Southampton, providing specialist rehabilitation care to people living in and around the area.
The wards are named Conan Doyle and Keats after famous literary figures with links to Hampshire, and the first patients were welcomed through the doors last week as they were moved from the rehabilitation wards at the Royal South Hants Hospital.
The Western Community Hospital is already home to two specialist wards for people with complex rehabilitation needs and the opening of these new wards means that all rehabilitation services in the city are now co-located to form the South of England Rehabilitation Centre, a centre of excellence where psychological, neurological and physical rehabilitation services are available.
The new wards have been built over the last two years by Brymor Southern Construction, creating two 25-bed wards over two floors with double the amount of single en suite rooms that were previously available.
The new wards also boast a range of improved facilities, including a larger gymnasium, a courtyard and terrace for accessible outside space and an Assisted Daily Living (ADL) suite; a joined kitchen and bedroom/bathroom that is designed with features patients would have at home and can be used to prepare patients for leaving hospital by practicing daily activities.
Eleven people made up a group of the last patients to use the rehabilitation wards at the Royal South Hants, where rehabilitation services have been provided in the old Lower Brambles and Fanshawe wards for almost 20 years, with some of the staff having worked there throughout that time. The staff from these wards have also moved over to work in the new wards at the Western Community Hospital.
Patient, Iris Sheppard, was one of the first group to arrive and said, “The wards are bigger and it looks beautiful when I've been round, I'm looking forward to having a good look!”
Dan Baylis, Chief Medical Officer, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This truly has been a labour of love for so many people in the trust; a project that we’ve been planning since 2019 and has had the input of our clinical teams from day one right through until completion to ensure we truly deliver the best possible facilities for staff and patients.
“The building has been carefully designed to create an environment focused on people’s wellbeing and recovery. There is plenty of light and space, and in the four bed wards we’ve included a table and chairs to allow patients to share their meals together and promote some social interaction. The bedrooms are at one end of the building and the courtyard, day rooms, seating areas and gymnasium are at the other end where there is more sunlight, to encourage people to move around the ward.
“Crucially, bringing these wards to the Western Community Hospital means that we are now operating as the South of England Rehabilitation Centre, bringing many of our rehabilitation services together as a centre of excellence, which means improvements in care and more development opportunities for staff, too.”
Brymor Managing Director, Mike Smedley, said: “It has been a joy to watch this project go from the demolition of an old ward to the new, three-storey hospital building we have before us today. Our close working relationship with the trust has been imperative in making this project such a success and we are delighted to be able to hand over something we are all very proud of.”