To help celebrate the NHS turning 75 this week, we are shining a spotlight on the work of some of our NHS heroes across Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) as well as remembering key milestones for the Trust, including when King Charles was a patient at the Queen’s Medical Centre and celebrating 45 years of clinical genetics at NUH. The Future of Our Hospitals
As the NHS celebrates its 75th birthday, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) is taking the opportunity to look ahead to what developments and technological advances our patients could expect from our hospitals in the future.
Over the next 10 years, more than £1billion is due to be invested into Nottingham’s hospitals, including redeveloping the Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital, and building England’s first National Rehabilitation Centre.
The National Rehabilitation Centre will be the first of its kind and aims to revolutionise healthcare provision and outcomes for people who have suffered potentially life-changing injury, trauma or illness.
The 70-bed specialist clinical building will be constructed on the Stanford Hall Rehabilitation Estate between Nottingham and Loughborough, and patients will share the stare-of-the-art facilities at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre just 400m away, including a hydrotherapy pool, sophisticated gait laboratory.
Patients will also have access to the Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN) - virtual reality equipment that analyses movement in real time and can expose patients to a range of environments, enhancing their recovery.
The long-term aim is to develop a regional clinical model which can be rolled out across the country, along with the development of a national training and education centre for rehabilitation and national research hub, in order to truly transform rehabilitation for as many people as possible.
Three major capital programmes are also underway and will transform the two main NUH hospital sites – Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital – so that they are fit for future residents of Nottingham.
The Maternity and Neonatal Redesign Programme will see the current unit at QMC expand from 17 cots to 38. This means that the QMC unit will be a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and City Hospital will become a Level 2 Local Neonatal Unit.
The expansion will prevent babies who need neonatal care from having to be transferred to alternative hospitals due to a lack of capacity at NUH. This will improve outcomes for our most vulnerable newborns, greatly improve the experience for their families, and enhance the working environment for our staff.
Tomorrow’s NUH, part of the Government’s New Hospital Programme, is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve how and where services are delivered, so that health and care services across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are more joined up and accessible to all.
This includes proposals for several new buildings and major refurbishment work so that our patients and staff have modern, fit for purpose buildings that will support us to deliver effective and efficient care and help us to train the next generation of healthcare workers.
In addition, the Tomorrow’s NUH programme will enable us to respond to the latest medical advances and the changing health needs of our population, providing the right care and reducing health inequalities for our patients long into the future.
In order to meet patients’ needs right now, a reconfiguration programme is already underway across both main hospital sites.
This includes the construction of a new Geriatric Assessment Unit, brand new operating theatres and wards, an elective hub dedicated to reducing surgery waiting lists, and several other initiatives which will pave the way for the future of healthcare in Nottingham.
More information about the Future of our Hospitals will be available at our Annual Public Meeting on Monday 10 July at Nottingham Trent University. Please visit our website for more details: Annual Public Meeting 2023 | NUH