Last updated 10:19, Friday, 06 June 2008

RUGBY hero Jonny Wilkinson laid the foundation stone with a fanfare 18 months ago – but the opening of Hexham General Hospital’s new £28 million wing was an altogether more subdued affair.

The first patients were discreetly moved across to the hospital’s new Ward 4 last weekend, and staff quietly took up their new stations.

Patient Marjorie Wilkinson, of Falstone, who was transferred into one of the 30 single, en suite rooms with a view, gave her seal of approval.

After being presented with a bouquet to mark the occasion, she said: “This is fantastic – the rooms are so light and airy.

“They are also very spacious, and they give patients privacy.”

Senior nurse matron Helen Maughan said the staff also were delighted with the new facilities.

“They absolutely love the new ward – they genuinely think it is excellent,” she said.

Besides Ward 4, catering primarily for elderly stroke and orthopaedic rehabilitation patients, there is also a new 10-bed acute care unit that bolsters the resources of the emergency care centre.

At the other end of the imposing, glass-fronted link corridor is the new Tynedale Patient Centre – a substantial suite of rooms tailored to the management of chronic diseases.

In between, a new cafeteria and WRVS shop cater for visitors’ needs.

But the icing on the cake has yet to be added, said a spokesman for the hospital’s operator, Northumbria Healthcare Trust.

Later in the year, the country’s first centre dedicated to training surgeons in the art of laparascopic, or keyhole, surgery will open.

Led by pre-eminent surgeon Liam Horgan, it is expected to cement Hexham’s reputation as a centre of excellence in the field.

Next door to the new hospital wing is the new Hexham Primary Care Centre, housing the town’s two GP practices – Burn Brae Medical Group and The Sele Medical Practice.

While the primary care centre is separate, patients can access the hospital through its new east entrance, just yards away.

Key to the design of the new wing was the focus on integrating a wide range of healthcare services, said Helen Maughan.

“Ward 4 is a unit in itself – it has everything that the patients need in the one location,” she said.

“Besides medical staff, there is also an integrated physiotherapy and occupational therapy team, complete with physiotherapy room, on the ward.”

There is also a day room that encourages the patients to leave their own rooms, move around and socialise.

The coming together of different health services under one roof to provide a more uniform, consistent service to patients also influenced the design of the Patient Care Centre, she added.

The multi-disciplinary team there included medics, dentists, podiatrists, dieticians and physiotherapists – all devoted to treating patients suffering from diabetes and respiratory diseases.

Hygiene, and the prevention of superbugs, such as MRSA, was also pivotal to the design process.

Vinyl floor covering makes for more efficient cleaning, posters are banned, only white boards can be mounted on walls, and disinfectant hand-wash dispensers are at every entrance.

Furthermore, a rule reminiscent of our grandmothers’ generation has been reintroduced – visitors must not sit on beds.

Over in the main body of the hospital, the space vacated by the stroke and orthopaedic rehabilitation ward is being refurbished and used to extend the chemotherapy unit.

And wards 2 and 3 are also about to receive a facelift.

Hexham Primary Care Centre is throwing open its doors to the public tomorrow and inviting people to drop in.

They will be able to talk to the health teams now based at the centre – Burn Brae Medical Group, The Sele Medical Practice, and the community health team formerly based at Abbey Clinic.

The open morning will run from 10am until noon.