New Emergency Departments for North Lincolnshire

Two schemes for Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust have received planning approval.

North Lincolnshire Council have given the green light for a new Emergency Department at Scunthorpe General Hospital whilst North East Lincolnshire Council have approved the corresponding scheme at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby.

The multi-million pound developments, which are being funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, are designed to alleviate pressure on emergency facilities, reducing waiting times, streamlining patient flow, and providing more rapid diagnoses.

Both schemes include new Emergency Departments complemented by bespoke Acute Assessment Units which will allow patients to be seen and treated by specialist clinicians more quickly, often without the need for hospital admission. Same Day Emergency Care, Assessment, Frailty and Gynaecology services are co-located with the Emergency Departments to provide a comprehensive and efficient Urgent and Emergency Care service.

Construction of the new Emergency Departments has an impact on both wider hospital sites, resulting in a sequence of enabling works including refurbished office space, on-call accommodation, cycle infrastructure and new modular car park decks.

Tom Potter, Healthcare Lead and Associate at P+HS Architects who has been leading the design team said: "the design development has been intense, with just 13 weeks from initial brief to the submission of a planning application. Due to Covid restrictions, we have had to work remotely, using online tools to thoroughly engage with staff and clinicians to ensure that our proposals met all of their requirements. We have had to be flexible in our approach, accommodating changes rapidly as the design evolved to meet the emergent client brief, and it is testament to the commitment of everyone involved that we now have planning and can forge ahead."

Director of Estates and Facilities, Jug Johal, the Senior Responsible Officer, said: “I’m delighted that we have now got over this final hurdle in the planning stages of the programme and work can start in earnest to bring these new facilities online."

Shown above, planning visuals for the new ED schemes at Scunthorpe General Hospital (top) and Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby (bottom).