Hospital staff have shared their excitement about moving into a new building which is set to be ready for patients next month.
Nurses at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton have visited the Louisa Martindale Building and been astonished at the improvements to their clinical spaces.
The building will begin to welcome patients in June and NHS staff are looking forward to move into the new working space.
Emily Spence, a nurse and change consultant for the building project, said: “I have been taking a lot of teams around the new building and their jaws have been on the floor when they see their new working environment.
“We’ve even had some staff in tears as it’s such a contrast from where they work now. It is a privilege to work with them on the project."
Tedianne Delacruz, a ward manager from the hospital's old Barry Building, said: “It is going to have a huge impact. Our current conditions are cramped and challenging. We will have five times as much space per bed in the new building.”
The Louisa Martindale Building is part of a major project to improve the Royal Sussex County Hospital with the old Barry building demolished in favour of a new cancer treatment centre.
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The new 11-storey tower, worth around £500 million, was originally slated to open in April but plans were pushed back in order to properly install the building’s management systems.
Among the teams moving into the new building are the critical care and neurology wards.
It is hoped the new building will improve patient care and provide state-of-the-art wards following the hospital’s most recent CQC report, which said the Royal Sussex was “inadequate”.
Peter Larsen-Disney, University Hospitals Sussex clinical director for the project, said: “This is a once-in-a-generation improvement for patients requiring hospital care from across Sussex.”
Services will be gradually moved into the building throughout June with more than 100,000 patients expected to be treated each year.
The building has been years in the making after initially being granted planning permission in 2012.
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