New £15 million Cromer Hospital tops out

North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb today toured the new £15 million Cromer and District Hospital and marked the “topping out” of the building at its highest point.

Construction work started a year ago with builders Mansell moving on to the Mill Road site. The new hospital will replace the original Mill Road hospital which first opened in 1932 and will provide day treatment, out-patient care, minor injuries, renal dialysis and extended diagnostic services.

The new £15 million facilities will include an ophthalmic operating theatre plus new diagnostic services including on-site mammography (breast screening) service, and a DEXA scanner for osteoporosis diagnosis.

The exterior of the new hospital is now weatherproof and the external works will all be finished by December. The construction team is also on the second fix of the interior of the hospital. Services will be transferred from the old hospital building to the new hospital in March 2012 and then the old hospital will be demolished to make way for landscaping and car parking.

The Minor Injuries Unit on the ground floor will be named after Mrs Bernstein and the procedure unit on the first floor of the new hospital will be named after her sister Muriel Thoms. The audiology unit will be named after Phyllis Cox.

The old Davison and Barclay ward areas of the current hospital will be retained and refurbished for use as a permanent renal dialysis unit with room for expansion. The plans for the site also allow room for further expansion if required and affordable in the future.

The new hospital project is being funded by the generous Sagle Bernstein and Phyllis Cox legacies. The Hospital Arts Project is also fundraising to create a range of artworks for the new hospital. The artwork will following the theme of sky, sea and land.

For more information visit www.nnuh.nhs.uk/page/newcromer

Picture caption M Robinson Photography. The main entrance at the new £15 million Cromer and District Hospital.