KGH's £1m extension to help it get through the winter

Two wards at KGH will be extended in a £1m projectto help cope with the winter pressures.

The Rothwell Road hospital is spending the cash to add 12 beds in two new side rooms with a temporary building.

With the hospital's normal winter pressures made even more difficult by dozens of Covid patients, it's hoped the extension will help ease the pressure and improve social distancing spaces between beds to make care safer during the pandemic.

Kettering General Hospital’s chief operating officer Jo Fawcus said: “The hospital remains very busy with the combined pressures of Covid-19 pandemic and the normal increase in medical emergencies we get during the winter months.

“We need to ensure that we have enough bed capacity to safely and effectively care for our patients this winter which is why we are adding capacity through temporary buildings.

“While we have plans for a major rebuild of the hospital site that is in the future.

“Right now we need to get through this winter which is why we are doing everything we can to improve our existing facilities to meet the challenges we are facing.”

It is the second temporary ward block added to the hospital’s site since the start of the pandemic. The first was the 18-bed Sir Thomas Moore Ward which opened in June as a step-down medical ward on car park A.

On Sunday, December 20, the six modules of the building were crane-lifted into a car parking area alongside Rothwell Road at the rear of Naseby A and B wards.

Between now and the end of January the modules will be assembled into the extension and have oxygen, medical gases, ventilation and heating installed in line with NHS standards.

Capacity on the Naseby Ward A and B will be extended from its current 40 beds (20 beds in each ward) to 52 beds by the extension.

Naseby A (female ward) will have 20 beds and Naseby B (male) will have 32 beds.

Matron for medicine Shaun Harrison said: “Creating a much bigger space for these medical wards will enable us to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission through better social distancing between patients.

“Importantly it will also give us more beds for local people who become medical emergencies this winter.

“Throughout the pandemic we have been working to refurbish and redesign some of our existing ward areas to create better environments and improve social distancing - for example the refurbishment of Lamport and Twywell Wards this summer.

“But this work has also reduced our overall bed capacity which is why we have had to expand it in the only way currently possible, by having additional portable buildings.

“While these are clearly not ideal for the long-term in the short-term they will be built to a very high standard and help us to look after our patients safely this winter.”