Chris Mole MP today (Tuesday, May 27th 2008) visited the Garrett Anderson Centre in Ipswich Hospital to see the new centre.

The £26 million centre starts receiving patients over the coming weeks and has been designed to provide the next generation of healthcare to the people of Ipswich. It hosts a new Accident and Emergency facility (housing 12 treatment rooms for adults as well as 4 specifically designed for children); a day surgery centre; and a critical care centre. To meet patient demand and offer more privacy and dignity, 50 percent of the centre's short-stay rooms are single en-suite rooms.

The new facility will help the hospital meet its elective surgery targets as well as the Government's maximum wait time of 18 weeks from GP to surgery. It is designed to be easily cleaned and to help avoid patients of the opposite sex sharing accommodation.

In building the Garrett Anderson Centre, Ipswich Hospital have placed a primacy on involving patients both in the design process, and also the running of the centre. This is done through a 'Patient Consultation and Communication Strategy Group' which includes 3 members of the public. This then feeds ideas to 12 representatives who represent patients' needs across several clinical teams.

Chris said:

"I am delighted to see first hand the fruits of all the hard work of all those at Ipswich Hospital who have made the Garrett Anderson Centre a reality. I have supported this facility from the first business plan and am pleased to see it up and running.

"The Garrett Anderson Centre is all about meeting the needs of the modern patient in a state-of-the-art healthcare setting. It allows patients to have their say on key decisions which affect them. Patients' views have already been extensively represented in the design process and accordingly the centre has an extremely high ratio of single en-suite rooms.

"I was particularly impressed by the quality of design, the attention to features such as the ease with which wards can be cleaned and the hi-tech equipment which will be used to treat patients.

"In the 21st century we need flexible, modern hospital facilities that enable services to change as priorities change and the Garrett Anderson Centre will enable Ipswich Hospital to better meet the needs of the Ipswich people."