Back in August 2019, the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Pilgrim hospital and met staff when he announced the provision of £21.3 million funding towards the cost of a new Emergency Department. Additional funding to complete the transformation will come from across the Lincolnshire NHS system.
Since then, lots of work has been taking place to design and create a department that not only meets the needs of patients and staff now, but also in the future.
The work is being completed in phases to ensure that the department can remain open throughout the works to provide urgent and emergency care for the people of Boston and the surrounding area.
The first phase is almost twice the size of the existing department. It includes:
- Eight resuscitation cubicles to care for the sickest patients needing the highest level of emergency care. This includes one cubicle specifically designed for young patients.
- 12 majors cubicles for those patients who are seriously ill, but not in immediate life-threatening danger. This will include a cubicle dedicated as a safe assessment room for patients with mental health needs.
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Many of the cubicles also have adjoining rooms where staff can safely put on any additional protection to care for patients with infectious conditions, such as flu and COVID-19. They can then safely remove any of the masks, aprons and gloves in the same rooms before returning to areas with other patients and staff.
- Ambulance parking outside with direct access into the department.
- A temporary area for children to be assessed and treated in, away from the rest of the department.
- A relatives’ room which can be used to update families, as well as provide a space for them to spend time with their loved ones who may have passed away in the department.
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Ambulance crews will bring patients into the department over a weighbridge, which will enable the team to work out and administer correct levels of medication to patients more quickly.
- It also houses staff rooms and offices, as well as a plant room to house all of the pipework, infrastructure and air handling units needed for the first and second phases of the new department.
- The new building uses air source heat pumps, is carbon neutral and has been designed with the pledge by the NHS to be the world’s first net zero national health service by 2045.
The first phase has been built alongside the current ED, in an area where a building was demolished.
Work has already begun on the next phase. This will see the new department knocked through to a corridor in the next few months to create some additional rapid assessment and treatment cubicles.
The rest of the current Emergency Department will then be taken back to the steel infrastructure and rebuilt from the ground up. This will then house the main entrance, waiting room, triage area, Urgent Treatment Centre and dedicated paediatrics area.
Lincolnshire Community and Hospitals NHS Group Chief Executive, Professor Karen Dunderdale, said: “Today marks a magnificent milestone in the provision of urgent and emergency care at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston. The scale of the work so far is impressive, especially when you consider that this is just the first phase of the project.
“Now the work will focus on transforming the existing department and joining both phases together in 2026.
“We will still be working in only half of a department until the next phase is completed. This is no small feat, but with the support of other departments, our amazing emergency department colleagues and our patients we will get there. But please bear with us, as it will be worth it once everything is completed.
“In the meantime, today is a day for celebration. A massive thank you to everyone involved, and also to our amazing patients and staff who are being so understanding and allowing all of this to take place on a very busy hospital site. It is not an exaggeration to say that without their support and co-operation none of this would be possible.
“All of this support will enable us to create a state-of-the-art Emergency Department with the environments that our teams deserve to provide the very best care, not only today, but also in the future.”