Two wards officially reopened as part of refurbishment programme at NNUH

Easton Ward and Mattishall Ward are the first two wards at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to be officially reopened as part of a multi-million pound project which is refurbishing eight wards across the hospital.

The refurbishment project is introducing a range of new features on hospital wards to enhance patient care at NNUH, and is being carried out by Serco.

Features being introduced as part of the refurbishment include:

• A state-of-the-art digital IP nurse call system with handsets or call assistance in every room throughout the patient areas, allowing calls to `be monitored centrally and helping clinical staff to respond as quickly as possible to patient needs.
• Installation of energy efficient LED lighting and controls linked to a range of sensors ensuring the optimum balance of artificial and natural light. This will enable the Trust to save around £3,000 per year on energy costs for each ward.
• Completely new bathrooms and wash basins designed to ensure the highest standards of safety, comfort and dignity for patients.
• New partition doors and fittings coated with antimicrobial materials to support infection control.
• New paintwork giving the wards an attractive, calm and modern feel. The design was developed with the Trust’s specialist nursing care leads to provide a relaxing environment for recovery and aid navigation for patients with specialist needs such as dementia.

Both Easton Ward and Mattishall Ward were officially re-opened by John Fry, NNUH Chairman, and Mark Davies, NNUH Chief Executive. Mark said: “Officially reopening the wards after their refurbishment celebrates the dedicated work gone into enhancing our patient environment and hospital facilities. I would like to thank Serco and all the teams involved at the Trust in the refurbishment; a project which will prove massively beneficial for our patients, their families and our NNUH staff.”

Abi Tierney, Serco Contract Director said:  “This is an incredibly exciting project which we hope will make a huge difference for patients, their families and staff. Our team of experts have thought incredibly carefully about every small detail in the design, so that we can give patients the best environment to support their recovery, and help the Trust’s brilliant clinical teams to provide the highest standards of care.”

Easton Ward

Easton Ward was officially reopened on Wednesday 28th June and was attended by Director of Nursing, Emma McKay, Divisional Operations Director for Surgery, Jo Segasby, Heather Watts, Divisional Nursing Director for Surgery and NNUH Public Governors.  Easton Ward Sister, Amanda Cook hosted a tour of the ward for Mark Davies, John Fry and NNUH Public Governors, highlighting the new features and refurbishments of the ward and their benefits.

The Ward is a Surgical Emergency Assessment Unit and accepts referrals for emergency surgical patients from GP’s, A&E, outpatient clinics and other hospitals.

Linda Page, Divisional Senior Matron for Surgery said: “We are delighted to be officially reopening Easton Ward. The team provides an outstanding service and the refurbishment will allow our clinical staff to continue to deliver a high standard of care to our patients and their families.”

Linda added: “In alignment with the refurbishment, we had also just introduced the concept of Ambulatory Emergency Care (AEC) into Surgery – a process by which we rapidly assess patients to provide a diagnosis and plan treatment. Our refurbishment allowed us to divide the ward more succinctly between our traditional emergency admissions, those who are going to need to stay and our new AEC cohort.”

Jo Segasby, Divisional Operations Director for Surgery said: “The refurbishment comes at a great time to support the development of redesign of emergency pathways in Surgery and the introduction of Ambulatory Emergency Care. With the hard work of the teams involved with the refurbishment and AEC on Easton Ward, we can provide excellent patient care in a timely manner.”

Mattishall Ward

Mattishall Ward, which specialises in treating patients with respiratory conditions, was officially reopened on Thursday 6th July and was attended by Dr Frankie Swords, Chief of Medical Division and Emma McKay, Director of Nursing. As part of the opening, Melanie Griggs, Mattishall Ward Sister highlighted the refurbished facilities on a tour of the ward for Mark Davies and John Fry and NNUH Public Governors.

Melanie said: “The enhancement of the facilities on Mattishall Ward is tremendous. Both staff and patients are seeing real benefits to the hospital experience and I’d like to thank all those teams involved in the refurbishment programme for making it possible. The introduction of the new facilities supports the excellent care carried out on the ward.”

Dr Frankie Swords, Chief of Medical Division said: “I am thrilled that the first two wards have officially been reopened as part of the ward refurbishment programme. It is a chance to celebrate the enhancement of facilities for patients and staff, and the work that has been carried out on all wards will make a big difference.”

To avoid disruption for patients and staff, the wards are being refurbished on a one-by-one basis.   As part of the refurbishment programme, six more wards across the hospital will be refurbished and officially reopened during the rest of the year.