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Relocation of Renal, Transplant and Colorectal (Lower GI) Wards at the Churchill

06/01/2020
This article is more than four years old.

Work to provide new inpatient wards for the Renal, Transplant and Colorectal (Lower Gastrointestinal) services at the Churchill Hospital has begun.

The relocation will provide larger, safer ward space, helping Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to improve care for patients at the hospital's Cancer and Haematology Centre.

Work, which started Monday 6 January 2020, is expected to be completed by summer 2020, and is being done in three phases to ensure the continuity of services. The Renal, Transplant, and Colorectal Wards will move in sequence as their new wards are completed.

The project will involve three separate moves:

  1. the Transplant Ward will move from the current Wytham Ward into part of the Colorectal (Lower GI) Ward;
  2. the Colorectal (Lower GI) Ward will move to the vacated Wytham Ward;
  3. the Renal Ward will move from the old buildings on the Churchill site into the Colorectal (Lower GI) Ward in the Cancer and Haematology Centre.

The overall cost of the project is approximately £1 million, with charitable donations from The Oxford Kidney Unit Trust Fund, Six Counties Kidney Patients Association (SCKPA), and Oxford Hospitals Charity.

These works will not create additional beds, but patients’ rooms will be fitted with state-of-the-art equipment that will provide clinical staff with enhanced data to monitor their patients’ progress. The project will avoid major operational consequences and bed closures.

The relocation will improve Renal Ward access to critical care, theatres, and radiology, as well as increasing the number of side rooms for renal patients, providing patients with more privacy. In addition, the co-location of the Renal and Transplant Wards will facilitate the combining of junior medical workforce across the two units, creating more joined-up care for patients.

Professor Freddie Hamdy, Divisional Director for the Surgery, Women's and Oncology Division at the Trust, said: "I am delighted that this important project is being implemented, and extremely grateful to our partner charitable organisations for their generous support.

"This is a complex project with many different elements. We are working very closely with our landlords, Ochre Solutions Limited and the Hospital’s Facilities Management team from G4S, to ensure that the impact of the works on renal, colorectal and transplant services, and patients in other wards is minimised.

"We are all extremely pleased that this project is now under way, as improving the condition of these new wards will enable our staff to care for their patients in an optimal environment."