Expanding radiology and cardiology services at NNUH

Construction work has begun at the NNUH which will pave the way for a major expansion of radiology and cardiology services.

The new Interventional Radiology Unit (IRU) will quadruple the number of interventional suites, placing NNUH among the biggest centres in the UK for interventional radiology. The project will also double the cardiology procedure rooms at the hospital.

Artist impression of the new IRU at NNUH

The construction site, in front of the Emergency Department, is being established ahead of the work, which will see a modular building being craned on to the roof of the East wing this summer.

The development will help meet increasing demand on services, reduce waiting times for patients and enable NNUH staff to offer new services in the future such as stroke thrombectomy where blood clots are directly removed from the brain following a stroke.

The Trust is taking an innovative approach to this expansion, working with specialists in modular heath care buildings. The 1,450sqm space is currently being built offsite and will comprise of four large treatment rooms, two recovery wards with side rooms, nurse bases, anaesthetic rooms, offices, staff rest rooms, pre-assessment bays, prep rooms, scrubs, toilets and a main reception with waiting area.

Interventional radiology is a minimally invasive alternative to open surgery that uses radiological image guidance such as x-ray, ultrasound, CT and MRI to diagnose and treat a wide range of conditions.

The new IRU is due to see its first patients from April 2020 and the vacated space will be used to expand the number of cardiology labs used to treat heart conditions at the NNUH to five. This will allow the cardiology department to carry out more complex electrical heart procedures for patients who currently have to travel to London for treatment.

Mark Davies, NNUH Chief Executive, said: “This is a fantastic development for patients. It will provide state-of-the art facilities for interventional radiology and cardiology at the hospital and will help us to get new procedures off the ground. This is about having the best facilities at the NNUH and we are really excited about this.”

Simon Hackwell, Director of Strategy at NNUH, added: “This has been a long time coming and we are thrilled about the start of work to create the new IRU at the hospital, which will cement our status as a major centre for the region and will help us to develop as a beacon nationally and training centre for interventional radiology. It also unlocks space for us to deliver much needed expansion of cardiology, giving us effectively five cath labs. We will have state of the art equipment and facilities in place for our patients across a number of specialties and this is in keeping with our strategy to develop more complex and specialised medicine at our university hospital.”

MTX have been appointed as the principal contractor for IRU and will be working alongside architectural partners IBI Group, consulting engineers DSSR and structural engineers Rossi Long to deliver the project.