A green light has been given to a £28million four-storey extension to the main hospital site building at The Royal Oldham Hospital.
The Northern Care Alliance NHS Group (NCA) is celebrating the confirmation of business case approval, which will allow them to demolish existing facilities and in its place deliver a four-storey extension to the main hospital site building at The Royal Oldham. Inside the new-build will be two new 24 bedded general surgery wards and the creation of a new emergency theatre within the current theatres unit. This will allow The Royal Oldham to operate as the hub site for high risk and emergency general and colorectal surgery for the north east of Greater Manchester.
David Jago, Chief Officer at The Royal Oldham Hospital, said: “The new surgical hub will provide much needed expertise to the people of the north east of Greater Manchester. It will enable other developments at The Royal Oldham, which will advance our ambitions to provide care and employment to the people of Oldham and beyond.”
A main contractor for the capital works, IHP has been selected and a public consultation on the new build took place in November 2019. Planning permission for the extension has also been granted and so building work is expected to start within the coming months with the new building opened by spring 2023.
Dr Nick Tierney, Divisional Clinical Director for Surgery at The Royal Oldham Hospital said: “This is fantastic news for the Division of Surgery and for all of the patients, staff and the population in Oldham and the surrounding areas. Having a new state of the art theatre for emergency and colorectal surgery will allow our surgeons to perform at the highest possible level with positive benefits in the quality of care delivered to our patients.”
Northern Care Alliance Chief Executive Raj Jain said: “It is great to see The Royal Oldham Hospital receiving this well-deserved investment to improve the hospital’s infrastructure, and I would like to thank all of those staff who have been involved in the plans and the design so far as part of the planning process. I am really looking forward to seeing the development take shape and witnessing the difference it will make to patients, staff and the public in the surrounding area.”