Buildings for our future – the next steps in our estates review
The next phase of the Epsom and St Helier estates review has officially begun, and every patient, visitor and local resident is being asked to get involved and have their say.
On Saturday 19 March, both hospitals will open their doors so that people can help to decide what criteria building options should be assessed against, tell us what they want from their local hospitals and ask any questions they may have.
Chief Executive Daniel Elkeles said: “Last year, we set out our plan for the next five years in our strategy, and we are still absolutely committed to that. However, our hospitals are very old – St Helier is almost 80 year’s old and Epsom is coming up to 50 – and the age of the buildings can hamper our staff as they go about their jobs. From the lifts that are so small you can’t fit a patient bed in to them, to the damp problems that damage walls just months after going through an expensive refurbishment, our hospital buildings can sometimes be a limitation to us.
“It’s time for us to begin planning for 2020 and beyond, and that’s precisely why we need to decide how we evaluate building options that are available to us. From June until December of last year, hundreds of people gave us their comments and suggestions about our estates. This first phase of the work was very successful, but we now need to develop the options for the long term future of our estate and make sure we get what we need from our buildings. But before we look at any specific options, we need to agree the criteria that we would use to evaluate them – and that’s where you come in. We need to know what’s important to you!”
This is our opportunity to build brand new facilities for our patients and staff. What are the most important factors that you think we need to take account of?
Join Daniel and other Executive Directors on Saturday 19 March from 10am – 12.10pm in the Lecture Theatre at St Helier Hospital (Estates event agenda - St Helier [pdf] 83KB ), or from 2pm – 4.10pm in Conference Room One at Epsom Hospital ( Estates event agenda - Epsom [pdf] 84KB).
Daniel added: “This is an incredibly important time for the long term future of our hospitals – please be a part of it.”
Let us know you are coming by emailing buildingforourfuture@esth.nhs.uk. For more information about the estates review, and the work we have done up to this point, please visit www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/estates-review.
