A Design Team led by Avanti Architects and Kennedy Fitzgerald Architects has been appointed to develop an exemplar design for Phase B, which is:

Main Ward Block (including Medical, Surgical and Acute Elderly services)
Emergency Department
Imaging
Acute Treatment Centre, comprising:
Main Outpatients Department
Cancer Day Unit
Day Procedures and Endoscopy Unit
Children’s Unit

A number of options to develop Phase B have been explored and appraised and the preferred option to be included in the OBC is the stacked development option. This will involve re-development on the existing hospital site, placing the wards on top of the Emergency Department and Imaging, to form a single building that will sit alongside the Critical Care Complex.

High Level Design Brief and Future Care Model

24 multi-disciplinary clinical and non-clinical user groups have been established to develop the future model of care for clinical and non-clinical services. Over 100 staff to date have contributed to the process and the outputs have now been consolidated into a high-level design brief. The future care model will have:

Emergency Department as the single point of entry for all emergencies, with an adjacent combined medical and surgical assessment unit
Clear separation in the provision of emergency and elective services and inpatients and outpatients
Dedicated facilities for adults, children and maternity services building on the current model and best practice

The Trust’s Executive Management Team and Trust Board signed off the design brief in February 2006 to demonstrate agreement to the model and its development. The finalised design brief was then used to develop a conceptual design for Phase B which in turn allowed the Trust to develop an outline planning application and outline business case.

Outline Business Case

The Trust met the Departmental deadline of 31^st May 2006 to submit the Phase B Outline Business Case. Several Departmental queries have since been addressed by the Trust and a revised OBC was submitted to the Department in January 2007.

Outline Planning Application

The Castlereagh Borough Council approved the Phase B outline planning application in September 2006.

Design Development

Design development has continued with the expansion of service user groups to multi-disciplinary service design groups who are involved in developing clinical and non-clinical output based specifications for each department in the new hospital. This also includes support services such as facilities management, information technology and communications and the development of an equipment procurement strategy. The specifications are approaching final draft stage and will contribute to the development of 1:200 drawings.

Equality Impact Assessment

A consultation process is almost complete regarding the procurement method for the redevelopment of the Ulster Hospital, and also the plans to increase the provision of services to children from age 13 to age 16. The first two stages of this process - an Equality Screening exercise and a Pre-consultation questionnaire, have been complete. This was followed by a consultation process on the content of a draft Equality Impact Assessment document. This was carried out over an 8-week consultation period ending 20 October 2006 as part of the overall consultation process for the reprovision of services and within the framework of Section 75 and Schedule 9 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. The final report will be posted on the Trust’s website in due course.

Communications

Effective communications is fundamental to the successful development of Phase B. A communications strategy has been developed with the aim of ensuring that everyone who will be affected by the development on the Ulster Hospital site is informed, consulted and given the opportunity to provide feedback. A number of communication methods have been firmly established in addition to the direct involvement of staff in the Exemplar Design process.

The Trust’s intranet site
Regular staff newssheet circulated with payslips
Presentations to a wide range of staff groups
Staff briefing sessions, open to all employees, are ongoing; these provide staff with the opportunity to ask questions and give feedback.
Regular meetings with senior managers and staff side representatives (local and regional)

Presentations to the Trust’s Patient Forum where patients’ representatives have had the opportunity to comment on the new design
Presentations to various local community groups and meetings with representatives from the local authorities
The Trust’s web site
Regular features of the Ulster Hospital’s building programme in local and regional newspapers