Worthing Hospital unveils enhanced Urgent Treatment Centre and A&E by Morgan Sindall
The new Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) at Worthing Hospital has now opened following multi-million-pound improvement works delivered by Morgan Sindall Construction. The enhanced facility will provide care for visitors with non-life-threatening conditions.
To mark the opening, the Morgan Sindall project team and members of the UHS Trust gathered at the site on the 29th of August to watch A&E Trust staff cut the ribbon. After the ribbon cutting, UHS Trust members and staff enjoyed a tour of the new spaces before moving to a Trust boardroom for speeches and refreshments.
Appointed by University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (UHSussex) and procured through the SCAPE construction framework, Morgan Sindall’s Southern Home Counties business has delivered a new UTC designed to accommodate up to 40,000 patients annually.
The new single-storey, steel-framed facility is a relocation of the hospital’s UTC to be closer to the Emergency Department, allowing for more efficient patient support and improved flow through the department. The facility features a spacious waiting area, eight consultation rooms, a new dedicated paediatric waiting area, and clinical support spaces. To enable construction of the new building, the project team had the challenge of relocating the existing A&E entrance.
To minimise disruption to ongoing hospital operations, close collaboration between Morgan Sindall and Worthing Hospital was essential throughout works. Construction activities were carefully scheduled to align with the hospital’s busiest periods. This coordination was particularly crucial during the infill of the existing courtyard, which is enclosed on three sides by surrounding buildings, and when breaching existing perimeter walls.
Additional elements of the construction process that required careful attention included reducing noise and vibration to the nearby A&E, maternity, pre-natal ward and X-Ray areas. In the early stages of the construction works a new drainage run was installed across the existing ‘blue light’ route so careful planning was needed as this route was in 24-hour use. During the main construction phase site deliveries, movement of materials and equipment across the hospital’s ‘blue light’ route required constant planning & management.
Worthing Hospital’s Emergency Department is the busiest in West Sussex, with around 100,000 visits each year. Demand is growing by approximately 5% annually, largely due to an increase in individuals seeking urgent care independently. The new UTC has been created in collaboration with Crowther Associates Architects, Ward Williams Consulting, HOP Consulting, and Paine Manwaring/EXI MEP.
All patients will access the facility through the Emergency Department’s new main entrance. And once the new UTC opens this autumn, work will begin on the Same Day Emergency Care unit in the space vacated by the current UTC in the hospital’s East Wing.
To make a positive impact to the local community throughout construction, Morgan Sindall worked closely with key partners and its supply chain to achieve a 64% local labour workforce made up of operatives who live within a 20-mile radius from the project. Additionally, the team awarded over £940,000 in contracts to local small to medium enterprises (SMEs).
Guy Hannell, Area Director for Morgan Sindall Construction in the Southern Home Counties, said:
It’s a fantastic accomplishment to celebrate the opening of Worthing Hospital's new Urgent Treatment Centre. This project is so important to deliver the facilities and treatment that the local community needs, and it’s been a pleasure to work closely with Worthing Hospital to coordinate the construction process in a live hospital environment.”
Roy Evans, Director of Capital Development and Property at University Hospitals Sussex, said:
We've been very pleased with Morgan Sindall Construction’s performance on this scheme with minimal disruption to the adjacent Emergency Department and other departments within the hospital.
The design includes the latest healthcare aspects and supports us in providing an excellent environment for our staff, patients and the community as well as meeting new sustainability targets. The new unit has been well received by patients and staff alike."
This project follows Morgan Sindall’s collaboration with UHSussex on a long list of healthcare developments and refurbishments. This includes at Chichester’s St Richard’s Hospital, where the tier one contractor completed a new Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) unit alongside vital roof works and installing a temporary mortuary, as well as delivering Stillman House and Fractures Clinic and a new £4m outpatients’ unit. Morgan Sindall has also completed a new Community Diagnostic Centre at Southlands Hospital.
ENDS