Walsall Manor Hospital unit to cost £2m more
A new critical care unit at Walsall Manor Hospital is to be made bigger than first planned and cost £2 million more than expected.
The changes come in a bid to cope with rising numbers of patients.
Health bosses have announced the new unit could be made bigger and include more beds as it anticipates having to take on extra patients from the Staffordshire area due to the downgrading of Stafford Hospital.
The new cost of the development is expected to be £8m, compared to the original £6m estimate. The planned West Wing unit will combine the current high dependency and intensive therapy departments, and will feature 18 beds.
Bosses at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust said the money for the project is available within their financial plan and approved the scheme at a board meeting yesterday.
Work on the long-awaited expansion is anticipated to start in May and is due to be completed in the summer of 2015.
Hospital chief executive Richard Kirby said the multi-million pound scheme can start once agreed by the Trust Development Authority. "We need to make sure that the sickest patients have the best accommodation in which to be cared for," he said.
"It is long overdue and we are pleased we can take an important step towards getting it upwards and running."
A business case report to the trust said: "The establishment of a single integrated critical care facility has been one of the key visions for the future of this service for many years."
