A new minor injuries unit and improved physio’ department has been agreed for the Victoria Hospital in Wimborne.
Dorset Council has given the green light to the development which will increase the community hospital’s capacity.
Drawings show a new single storey extension and a reconfiguration of the existing layout adjacent to the main 1980s outpatients’ centre.
A planning agent for the hospital says that the small extension should have little or no impact on any adjacent homes.
Existing landscaping and paths, including the Memorial Garden, will be retained with some realigned to run around the perimeter of the proposed extension.
The new Minor Injuries Unit will have a new, dedicated entrance to the south providing direct patient access.
The new layout and extension has been designed to provide separate adult and children’s waiting spaces, a multi-bay treatment area, a dedicated children’s treatment room, a triage room and a further treatment room, with a reception and managers office, a utility room, toilets and store rooms.
The hospital says the unit has been designed to provide maximum flexibility in how the spaces can be used with three private treatment/triage rooms available to allow patient privacy and confidentiality. A three bay treatment suite will allow the majority of patients to be seen, triaged and treated within a curtained bay, similar to an Emergency Department minor treatment unit.
Documents with the changes will provide the opportunity for flexible working and allow the unit to function as an Urgent Treatment Centre should the need arise.
The new physiotherapy department will be centred around a large treatment suite that will offer both traditional curtained treatment bays and a small number of private rooms; the existing gym will be remodelled and refurbished, and a multi-purpose hand therapy room created. A new dedicated physio’ waiting area will be created at the entrance to the department which will help reduce pressure on the existing reception and waiting areas.
A document submitted with the application said: “The result is a high-quality scheme that achieves an excellent balance of existing and new extension. The scheme has been carefully conceived to maintain a good relationship with neighbouring properties and respect the welfare of protected trees.”
Since its inception in 1887, when it was opened to honour the jubilee of Queen Victoria, the hospital has undergone many changes and has grown to now accommodate 21 in-patients, as well as an operating theatre, endoscopy suite, outpatients’ department, physiotherapy department, minor injuries unit and a radiology department.
Illustration – How the new Wimborne minor injuries unit might look
