UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2020
Pictured Above| Progress at Heatherwood Hospital | September 2020 | View From King's Ride Entrance Road
Work on the hospital at Heatherwood was considered essential works and has been allowed to continue through lockdown, although many processes throughout the site have had to adapt and change.
But thanks to the efforts of developer Kier and its teams, as well as Frimley’s own project team, there has been minimal impact and the new hospital’s final timeline has not been affected.
Work on the small roundabout on the Kings Ride road has been completed, and the reduction in traffic during lockdown meant that this work happened without any major impact on the surrounding community.
And all the while behind the scenes Frimley Health clinicians are developing new ways of caring for their patients to ensure the new Heatherwood will help the Trust continue to provide exceptional care in the future.
New hospital milestones:
- Winter 2020 – Building made watertight
- Winter 2020 – Alteration work begins on main roundabout
- Autumn/winter 2020 – Power switched on in the building
- Mid-2021 – Site handed over to Frimley Health from Kier
- Mid-2021 to winter 2021 – Commissioning of the new build and decommissioning of the old site
- Winter 2021/22 – Transfer of activity and equipment from old site to new building
- 2022 – Old site handed over to Taylor Wimpey for housing development
February 2020
The new NHS hospital at Heatherwood will provide six top-of-the-range operating theatres, a range of outpatient services and up-to-date diagnostics in a superb new building set into woodland.
Frimley Health’s ambitious plan has seen a new building at the back of the current hospital site take shape while existing services stay fully operational.
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust celebrated the completion of the main structure of a new hospital building on the Heatherwood site, Ascot, that will provide state-of-the-art NHS services to patients in Berkshire and beyond. A ‘topping out’ ceremony has already taken place in the new £98m Heatherwood Hospital that is being built by Kier for the Trust.
Services are on track to transfer to the new building next year and the Trust aims to double the number of patients visiting Heatherwood each year to 168,000 over the next decade.
“It is so exciting to reach this milestone and to have the completion of the new hospital in sight. It will be among the best facilities of its kind in the NHS and we will finally have the facilities that our fantastic Heatherwood teams and the patients they care for deserve.”
The new hospital will include:
- Six operating theatres
- 48 inpatient beds plus 24 day case cubicles
- General surgery, antenatal, paediatric and physiotherapy services
- One-stop clinics, including breast and urology
- Enhanced cardiology diagnostics
- Orthopaedics
- Private patient facilities
Martin Reilly, operations director for Kier Regional Building Southern, said: “We always look to leave a lasting legacy in areas in which we build. Working collaboratively with Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, we have engaged with the local community throughout this project as well as providing training opportunities for those who are considering a career within the built environment.”