New heights for emergency department

A major milestone has been marked in the building of a new £49m emergency department and assessment centre designed by BDP.

The topping out ceremony marked the symbolic completion of the highest part of Wexham Park Hospital’s new facility in Slough.

It means Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust’s construction project to provide the community with one of the best emergency departments in the NHS has reached the half-way stage.

Guest of honour Slough Mayor Cllr Ishrat Shah ceremonially topped up concrete around the base of a structural column, the exact spot on the site where ground was broken some eight months ago.

Our Architects were present at the event which also included the Mayor and representatives from Frimley Health and the project team.

Trust chief executive Sir Andrew Morris said: “This building will be a massive rocket launch to providing state of the art facilities to back up our staff who go the extra mile day after day. It will be the best the NHS has to offer for the 115,000 people who come to the emergency department each year.

“The new ambulatory care unit will help us to turn people around on the day, offering assessment, diagnosis, testing and management plan on a daily basis, so appropriate patients don’t need to be admitted overnight – that will help to ease pressure.”

Nick Fairham, architect director at BDP, said: “This new element to Wexham Park Hospital is of huge significance to the local community with its innovative design focused on the needs of the patients.
“Important features include an emphasis on bringing the services and clinicians to the patient to provide high quality care where it is most needed and reduce waiting times and travel around the hospital. This approach is supported by the inclusion of assessment beds where patients are attended to by senior clinicians with access to the latest diagnostic tools.”