The new year will bring several upgrades to hospitals in Scunthorpe and Goole.
As part of the multi-million pound development scheme that was announced last year and is being funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, large advances will be seen this year. One of the major projects was to build a new Accident and Emergency department at Scunthorpe General Hospital. Work is due to start on this this year. From January, the steel work will be arriving on site and the department will slowly rise from the ground. Last year the trust was also awarded £40.3million from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
Scunthorpe are using this to install a new geothermal heating system that will replace their steam boiler. Work on this is happening now - drilling work has begun on the exploratory boreholes for the heating system, as can be seen from the Church Lane side of the site. In Scunthorpe, work is also continuing on their £4.88million scheme to extend the MRI suite. Scheduled to be completed by the end of this month, their aim is to have it open to patients by February.
In Goole, the site continues to become more sustainable by cutting their carbon footprint. The old coal-fired boilers have been removed and they hope that by March they will be generating their own electricity from a new combined heat and power unit that are currently in the process of being commissioned. The Digital Services team are working to cut down on their use of paper by moving towards a digital system for all of their Lincolnshire and Goole hospitals. A new Patient Administration System for easier access to information is to be ready by the end of the year.
Director of Estates and Facilities, Jug Johal, said: “We appreciate that carrying out this work is causing some short term disruption and I would like to thank you for your understanding and patience while the work is ongoing. “We believe the end result will be worth it and we’re doing all we can to minimise the impact on you.”