PATIENTS staff, visitors and residents can now get a clearer view of what a multi-million pound hospital redevelopment will look like when it is finished.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust has today launched a virtual reality (VR) model of its £485 million plans for the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

In what is thought to be a first in the NHS, the model allows staff to explore the new facilities more than three years before the first of the new buildings is complete.

Staff can move anywhere through the new buildings, the helideck and the service yard to learn how they can provide the best possible patient care as soon as they open.

Redevelopment director Duane Passman said: ”Patient care is our number one priority. “This virtual reality tool will really help staff get used to their new working environment before it has even been built.

“It will give teams the chance to figure out their working practices and patient care strategies, with accurate knowledge of how the building will work.

“This means it will be much easier to give patients the care that they deserve and that staff want to deliver, from day one in the new buildings.”

Staff from all the services moving into the new buildings will use the virtual reality model, including elderly care, neurosciences, housekeeping, critical care, cancer care, ear, nose and throat services, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, fracture clinic, cardiac outpatients, and general medicine.

The VR model reflects all the information in the redevelopment’s Building Information Management (BIM) database.

The BIM system is used as the blueprint for construction so what is shown in the VR model is what will actually be built.

The VR system will have longer lasting benefits as well such as allowing maintenance staff to actually see where services run in the new buildings and plan works accordingly.

The VR model will continue to be updated until the end of the hospital redevelopment as the team buys new equipment and makes interior design decisions.