First Minister Opens Ambulatory Care Centre at Prince Charles Hospital
The First Minister of Wales, Vaughan Gething, opened the new Ambulatory Care Centre at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board’s Prince Charles Hospital on Thursday 18th July. He joined staff at an opening ceremony to celebrate the completion and handover of the Outpatients, Therapies, Endoscopy and Maxillofacial and Orthodontics departments, which form part of the Ambulatory Care Centre.
These refurbishments form Phase Two of a £280 million upgrade of the Hospital, which began back in 2017.
Already completed, Phase One involved a £44 million investment in new infrastructure for the Hospital, the creation of a new kitchen, restaurant and pharmacy facility.
The newly opened Phase Two, which includes the new Ambulatory Care Centre, is a £220m project to refurbish the majority of the ground and first floors of the main hospital block, new plant rooms and further car park upgrades.
The Endoscopy department upgrades include an increase from two to three new operating rooms, a brand new dedicated endoscopy reception area, and five en-suite patient preparation rooms.
In the Maxillofacial and Orthodontic department, upgrades include a brand new open-plan waiting area, and a custom-built orthodontic, restorative and maxillofacial unit with eight individual spacious and contemporary surgeries and a separate consulting room space.
In Therapies, brand new hydrotherapy pool facilities are designed to fully support disabled access, individual clinic rooms for injection therapy, pelvic health assessment and a cubicles area for muscular and skeletal treatment and a large modern physiotherapy gym.
In addition to the Ambulatory Care Centre department upgrades, Phase Two of the refurbishment will also include a full new suite of Theatres, a Day Surgery Unit, major updates to the Radiology and Pathology departments, and the building of the new Intensive Care Unit.
Paul Mears, Chief Executive of Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board said “The upgrading of facilities at Prince Charles Hospital is a major priority for our health board, and I am delighted that we are now able to open our state of the art Ambulatory Care Centre and, most importantly, for our patients to begin benefitting from these facilities
“I’d like to give my thanks all of the teams who have been involved with the project since 2017, and our service users at Prince Charles Hospital, for their patience and flexibility during these upgrades. As we now move into the next stage of this important development, we remain committed to providing the best possible health care to our communities in the north of Cwm Taf Morgannwg.”
First Minister Vaughan Gething said: “I was really pleased to see the impressive range of specialist health care services now available to outpatients, which will mean local people will be able to receive more treatments or diagnoses locally, using the latest clinical equipment in an excellent modern facility.
“It was also good to hear about how the development is working with young local people through partnerships with schools, providing apprenticeships and helping young people prepare for work and gain employment.
“Congratulations to the team at Prince Charles and the health board on this important investment in NHS services for people in Merthyr Tydfil and the local area.”
18/07/2024