People have been given a glimpse of a new intensive care unit at Ipswich Hospital - part of an expansion to help the NHS cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr Helen Findley, clinical lead for anaesthetics at Ipswich Hospital, tweeted a photo of the new unit, created within the Raedwald day surgery unit.

She tweeted: “Thanks to some extraordinary efforts from the team in day surgery - our new Raedwald ICU is ready to go if needed over the bank holiday weekend... #StayHomeSaveLives and let’s hope it’s not needed.”

In another tweet, she said: “Great team vibe amongst all staff working in and supporting Critical care, Theatres and Anaesthetics - from cleaners to consultants. Never been so proud of our #NHSheroes. Thank you everyone and thanks to the public for all your support.”

READ MORE - Hospital boss wants to quadruple number of ICU beds

Ipswich Star: Dr Helen Findley in the new Raedwald ICU at Ipswich Hospital Picture: DR GEORGE BOSTOCKDr Helen Findley in the new Raedwald ICU at Ipswich Hospital Picture: DR GEORGE BOSTOCK (Image: Dr George Bostock)

A spokesman for East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust said: “ESNEFT chief executive Nick Hulme spoke on Wednesday, in an interview with BBC Radio Suffolk, about work we are doing to quadruple the availability of high-dependency and critical care beds, should we need to use them.

“The changes that have been made to the Raedwald day surgery unit at Ipswich Hospital are a part of this work.”

In the interview on Wednesday, Mr Hulme said the trust was “seeing relatively low numbers compared to the rest of the UK” but was expecting to see a peak in Covid-19 cases over the coming days and weeks and that he “wants to quadruple the number of ICU beds”.

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