As the UK came out of the Covid pandemic, legacy issues were inherent in the NHS. As part of the national strategy to control the spread of the virus, non-emergency care was temporarily halted. As such thousands of people in the Newcastle area had planned surgery cancelled. What was once a potential waiting time of up to a year became a potential waiting time of up to 5 years.
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust declared this an emergency.
Our client decided action was needed immediately and could not wait for a bureaucratic answer to a real happening now problem. This client is an incredible example of how the collective determination and ambition of an organisation has tackled some of the challenges facing the NHS, head on, and with great success. It’s not a vague promise for future improvement, but a tangible and rapid solution.
The decision to construct a new Day Treatment Centre (DTC) would allow the provision of up to 8 thousand additional elective surgical procedures a year. The clients brief ‘How fast can we be operational?’. Knowing that this would be a challenge and realising the importance of its success, the client approached a design and construction team whom it had previously worked with, and they knew could trust to deliver the project.
The rapid delivery and planning for such a complex facility could not afford any delays or any pauses whilst decisions were made. As such the client had pure faith and trust in the people who were entrusted to deliver. Contractor, design team, clinical representatives, estates personnel and stakeholders all bought into the ‘why’, and each member of the team gave 100% commitment to ensure the clients aspirations were not only met but exceeded.
Three Winning Facts:
- The client inspired all parties to the project that the impossible was possible.
- The client was actively and intensely involved in all stages of the design and construction stages, leading from the front.
- The client tackled an immediate crisis head on, thinking only of the patients they provide for and using action, not words, to demonstrate why the NHS is the best in the world.
