Plans have been unveiled for two new developments at Salford Royal – including a state of the art Acute Receiving Centre with a rooftop helipad.
The Acute Receiving Centre (ARC) supports Salford Royal’s work as a major trauma centre for Greater Manchester and as the centre for acute general surgery for the North West sector (Bolton, Salford and Wigan Partnership) under the Healthier Together programme to Standardise Acute and Specialised Care.
The ARC will offer the highest level of emergency response care to major trauma patients who suffer life changing or life threatening injuries, for example after a serious road traffic accident.
Located on Eccles Old Road, the ARC will consist of six stories with a helipad located on an eighth storey.
The building will include 90 patient beds in both multi and single bed rooms. Services will include radiology, resuscitation, surgical triage, theatres and wards.
Dr Pete Turkington, Salford Royal Chief Officer and Medical Director, said: “The Acute Receiving Centre will enable our specialised teams to carry out major and high risk procedures in a purpose built environment with access to the very latest technology and equipment.
“Thanks to the rooftop helipad, our Air Ambulance colleagues will no longer need to land on nearby playing fields, which will speed up the arrival of this group of very sick patients who need rapid access to this highly-skilled team of clinicians.”
Plans have also been submitted by Salford City Council for an Intermediate Care Unit (ICU) to be built on land next to east car park, on Stott Lane.
The ICU will provide short-term accommodation to aid patient recovery and increase independence, for example, to help patients recover after a fall, acute illness or operation to help them return home quickly. The ICU will be a two-storey building, providing 60 patient beds in both multi and single bed rooms.
The proposal includes light-filled day rooms for patients and a therapy garden to promote wellbeing. Stott Lane Car Park will continue to be used by hospital staff and visitors. The Trust is working in partnership with the council to deliver this scheme and the building and car park site will be retained in council ownership.
A robust transport assessment has been undertaken that considers the impact of both the ARC and ICU developments on the highway network and concludes that there will be a minimal impact as a result of the proposals, which can be addressed by small changes to traffic light phasing times at nearby junctions.
A variety of measures are being introduced to ensure there is minimal impact to parking on the site such as a new staff permit system, 150 overflow parking spaces made available in the multi-storey car park for visitors, additional off-site parking for staff, plus sustainable travel measures for staff commuting to and from the hospital site.
Planning applications for both buildings have now been submitted to Salford City Council.
