New hospital centre to open in April

IT'S celebration time at Ipswich Hospital today.

After delays caused by flooding and faulty electrical equipment the £26million Garrett Anderson Centre will finally be in the hospital's control from next Friday.

And by April the much-anticipated new centre should be opening its doors to patients for the first time.

Hospital chief executive Andrew Reed said: "A tremendous amount of work is being put in to ensure the centre is opened to patients as soon as possible.

"It is a fantastic facility and our staff are looking forward to moving in and transforming the way we provide healthcare for local people."

The good news comes after the Garrett Anderson Centre's opening was initially delayed after a flood in December and was put back again to send vital electrical equipment damaged by the water leak to America.

The two control panels designed to manage the centre's environment and help everything run smoothly within the building were sent back to the USA, where they were built, before they were deemed safe.

Jan Rowsell, hospital spokeswoman, said: “There was a water leak in the main building in December. Since then we have had to be absolutely sure that we checked anything that could have been damaged by the leak.

“There were two control panels that were thought to be affected and they were sent back to the USA where they were inspected, repaired and thoroughly tested.”

It is hoped that the four-storey centre, which will home new departments for accident and emergency, critical care, day surgery and elective surgery, will ease pressure on the hospital which has been stretched in recent months with high demand for beds and a desire to meet treatment waiting times.

Are you concerned by the delays to the centre? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.

n. See page 17 for how the hospital is tackling bed blocking.