7:00am Thursday 13th September 2012
By Matthew Taylor
A ‘SIGNIFICANT improvement in healthcare’ for Crewe will be achieved if Cheshire East council gives the green light new £21.6 million plans for Leighton Hospital.
Planning chiefs meet on September 19 to discuss Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s (MCHFT) proposals for building eight operating theatres and a new critical care unit.
Planners are recommend to approve the works, which incorporate new staff rest rooms, 14 critical care beds and 14 recovery units.
The facilities, supported by Government funding, will ‘wrap around’ the hospital’s existing treatment centre adjacent to the A530 Middlewich Road.
An existing courtyard used for the recovery of patients will be integrated into a larger, landscaped outdoor space.
A planning officer’s report states: “The new facility, which will provide replacement state-of-the-art facilities to replace ageing operating theatre accommodation, will allow the hospital to continue to provide quality services going forward into the future and will help to safeguard jobs within the hospital itself in the long term.
“It is also important to consider the community benefits arising from such a significant improvement in healthcare provision within the town.”
The report adds that the development will bring “direct and indirect economic benefits to the town, including additional trade for local shops and businesses, jobs in construction and economic benefits to the construction industry supply chain.”
In conclusion, the report states that the proposal would also have “significant economic social benefits.”
Approval of the plan is subject to numerous conditions, including that accommodation and car parking spaces lost by a partial demolition of ward 6 and 6a will be replaced elsewhere within the hospital.
A spokesman for MCHFT said: “The project will allow the Trust to maximise the productivity and efficiency of service delivery in modern surroundings with the most up to date equipment.
“Ultimately, this will ensure that more technologically-advanced procedures can be undertaken, therefore reducing the length of stay in hospital and increasing the quality, safety and experience for patients both now and in the future.”
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