Emergency care centre 'virtually complete' - trust

The trust hopes the emergency care centre will be "fully operational" by the end of November

Scarborough's new urgent and emergency care centre (UECC) is set to open next month.

The £47m state-of-the-art facility is "virtually complete", according to the NHS trust, and aims to be fully operational by the last week of November.

It replaces the current A&E department at Scarborough Hospital and will almost double the existing floor space.

At a meeting at York Hospital, the UECC was described as a "game-changer" for healthcare on the coast.

Simon Morritt, chief executive of York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, thanked the team for their "hard work, persistence and patience" behind the scenes.

"We are finally there and ready for a new chapter in Scarborough Hospital’s history to begin," he added.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the facilities had helped to attract new medical staff and created other roles in catering and cleaning.

The new facility almost doubles the floor space of the old A&E department

After the meeting, trust chair Martin Barkley said he was "very optimistic" because the design had been "well thought through".

He believed patients would have better outcomes because people would not be waiting on trolleys in corridors.

Mr Barkley added he thought staff would "thrive even more in a pleasant, fit-for-purpose working environment".

In addition to a new CT scanner and two new X-ray machines, the facility features a secure room for highly infectious diseases.

The whole building can also be securely divided into two sections in case of a wider outbreak such as Covid-19.

More than £800,000 has been raised by the York and Scarborough Hospitals Charity to fund projects enhancing the patient experience, including creating four outdoor terraces and providing accommodation suites for relatives.

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