HBG completes PFI hospital four months early
HBG Construction has completed the East Ayrshire Community Hospital at Cumnock for Ayrshire and Arran Primary Care NHS Trust four months ahead of schedule.
The 74-bed East Ayrshire Community Hospital has been constructed under the PFI system and it is now preparing to accept its first patients.
The non-clinical services at the hospital will be operated by HBG for the Ayrshire and Arran Primary Care Trust over a 25-year period. Now that the construction is complete, HBG Facilities Management has mobilised to provide services ranging from maintenance of the building and its electrical and mechanical installations to operating the switchboard, catering, cleaning, portering and landscaping.
The hospital was designed in part to provide an environment suitable for people suffering from dementia. Facilities also include a 24-bed GP medium acute unit, day hospital, rehabilitation suite and out patients clinic.
Dr Ian Christie, a GP based at Cumnock said: 'This is a superb, state of the art facility that will be much appreciated by NHS professionals and by everyone living in East Ayrshire. It is a major advance on the existing facilities.’
HBG’s PFI Operations Director, Joe Linney, said of the new hospital: 'The ethos of the hospital is that the Trust want to foster an operational philosophy based on a model of ‘patient-focused care’. In simple terms it’s about creating a domestic environment and, as far as possible, making people feel like they’re at home rather than in hospital.' HBG Facilities Management is working very closely with Ayrshire and Arran Primary Care NHS Trust to help deliver this environment.
A new on-site Hotel Services Manager, John Little, has been appointed, bringing a wealth of experience gained from working for Granada Healthcare. He said: ‘We need to offer a flexible support service. For example, we may have to provide a catering service that offers meals as and when required and not just at fixed times.’
As well as the core services, HBG will also provide more diverse facilities such as a hairdresser, children’s play area, community room and cafe.
HBG’s design and construction team included MacLachlan Monaghan as the architect, Keillor Lawrie Martin as quantity surveyor, McLay Collier as structural engineer and Hulley & Kirkwood as services engineer. Advisers to HBG included McClure Naismith and Ernst & Young and the funder is the United Bank of Kuwait.
For further information:
Adrian Marsh, HBG Construction, telephone 020 8338 2635, facsimile 020 8200 3478, e-mail amarsh@hbgc.co.uk