Brighton: Royal Sussex County Hospital's £500m revamp hits milestone

The Barry Building dates back to the 1820s and is the NHS's oldest acute ward building

Staff at a Brighton hospital have spoken of their excitement as a multi-million pound redevelopment of their facilities moves closer to completion.

A major part of the £500m revamp of the Royal Sussex County Hospital is due to be finished by the end of 2022 and taking patients by next February.

It will replace the oldest acute ward building in the NHS, the Barry Building, which opened in 1828.

Ward manager Tedi Anne Dela Cruz said working there had been "challenging".

Speaking to BBC South East on its first look around the new build, Ms Dela Cruz said: "It's been really challenging to work in such a restricted space, so this is very positive.

"It will benefit patients and staff alike."

The hospital said 65% of the beds would be in single rooms with en-suite facilities

Construction work on stage one of the project began in Eastern Road in January 2016, and at its height had 500 people a day and five tower cranes working on it.

Stage two of the redevelopment project will see the Barry Building demolished and replaced with a new cancer centre, while stage three will create a service and logistics yard.

The new buildings will house more than 40 wards and departments, a start-of-the-art major trauma centre, new teaching facilities and a new critical care facility.

The new entrance is more than 20 times the size of the existing reception area, with one million patients, staff and visitors expected to pass through its doors in the first year.

The Welcome Space is 20 times the size of the existing reception area

The building has been designed with wards on the upper floors so inpatients can benefit from natural light and views across to the sea and Downs.

The trust said 65% of the beds will be in single rooms with en-suite facilities, compared to 5% in the Barry Building.

The non-single rooms will be four bed bays

Wards will be placed on the upper floors with views across the city and sea

The plan has been to bring linked services closer together, such as imaging and fracture services on level four, while stroke and acquired brain services will be side-by-side on level 10.

Redevelopment communication head Richard Beard said: "We are bringing together a high dependency unit and an intensive care unit, into one unit across the whole floor, and that basically gives us better patient outcomes and gives us the space to expand if we need to."

Nurse manager Charlotte Lee said she was looking forward to more "joined-up working"

Charlotte Lee, nurse manager in Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), said: "At the moment, we are a split team so we run across a few sites.

"Moving into here, our teams will be together, so we will be doing a lot more joined-up working together, so that is really exciting, as well as having the actual new environment."

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