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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Christie Bannon

Inside Swansea's new £25 million hospital

It might have passed you by, since in lockdown not many of us will have driven 'passed' it, but Swansea has a new hospital.

And the people behind it are pretty excited about what it's got to offer. Far more than the facility it replaced is the answer.

We've been given a tour of the £25 million new HMT Sancta Maria Hospital in SA1, and although it's a private facility, with the current pandemic and pressures on NHS resources even in more normal times, some of us may well see the inside of it as patients at some point.

The private hospital is preparing to open its doors having moved from its site in Ffynone, Uplands, where it had been based since 1958.

Construction on the new facility started almost two years ago in March, 2019, with initial plans to open in October, 2020, halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Now, staff are set to welcome their first patients through the doors on Monday, February 15.

With 12 en-suite patient bedrooms, an on-site MRI scanner, three operating theatres, underground parking and a dedicated day surgery unit, those heading inside can expect a more "comfortable" and "improved" experience.

You'll be greeted by a spacious reception area (WalesOnline/Gayle Marsh)
Hospital director Geoff Bailey said patients could expect a more "comfortable" experience (WalesOnline/Gayle Marsh)

Hospital director, Geoff Bailey, said: "The big difference is having a purpose-built hospital which is just brand new and has been designed to be a hospital.

"The patient experience should be so much more improved. We've got parking and a drop-off area, a lovely and spacious building and improved diagnostics with the digital X-ray and MRI scanner which mean we can do so much more.

"We have a treatment room for out-patients, effectively three wards including an overnight ward, an endoscopy suite dedicated to that. They're all on site rather than the patients going elsewhere.

"We will carry out more procedures here in a year than we would do in the older one."

The new hospital has a dedicated endoscopy suite for patients (WalesOnline/Gayle Marsh)
One of the 12 in-patient bedrooms at the new hospital (WalesOnline/Gayle Marsh)
Each in-patient bedroom comes with a spacious en-suite (WalesOnline/Gayle Marsh)

The multi-storey building is made up of consulting rooms and facilities for out-patients on the ground floor, with the operating theatres and wards, made up of two six-bed wards and a 12-bed overnight ward, based upstairs.

Inside the overnight rooms you'll find a mounted TV, your own wardrobe and cabinet, as well as a spacious en-suite.

One of the more noticeable changes is the addition of a static MRI scanner inside the building, something the former hospital did not have.

Previously, a truck would visit once a week and park up outside so patients could access the facility, whereas now the hospital will be able to offer MRI scans to patients six days a week.

The MRI scanner based within the building (WalesOnline/Gayle Marsh)
There will also be an X-ray room on site (WalesOnline/Gayle Marsh)

Mr Bailey added: "Our first patients are due in on Monday, pending Health Inspectorate Wales registration.

"All of us just want to have patients now.

"In our previous waiting rooms we could only put four people in each one at a time. The whole patient experience is going to be more comfortable."

There are two wards which each contain six beds for day patients (WalesOnline/Gayle Marsh)
The facility in SA1 has three operating theatres which is more than its previous site in Uplands (WalesOnline/Gayle Marsh)

The hospital, which is owned and operated by not-for-profit healthcare specialists, the Healthcare Management Trust (HMT), has been working with NHS Wales and Swansea Bay University Health Board throughout the pandemic and is continuing to offer support to relieve some of the pressure that the NHS currently faces.

Mr Bailey said: "We will also be replicating our stringent Covid safety measures at the new hospital which sees visitors have their temperatures taken on arrival as well as wearing masks and sanitising their hands.

"The new facility, with its wider corridors and more open spaces will allow us to better manage the patient flow for the time being."

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