A major investment in NHS services in Scarborough is underway with a ground breaking ceremony to mark the official start of a £47million scheme to build a new Urgent and Emergency Care Centre at Scarborough Hospital - the largest capital scheme ever undertaken by the Trust.

Enabling works in readiness for the build have already begun, and the new centre is planned to open in the Spring of 2024.

Attendances at Scarborough Emergency Department have increased at a rate of around five percent year on year for over a decade and the new build will provide much needed extra space. It will also mean patients from minor to complex needs can be looked after in the unit by one team of healthcare professionals working together who will see more patients as quickly and safely as possible. The centre will have its own dedicated diagnostic zone providing CT scans, general X-ray and ultrasound.

Dr Ed Smith, Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Deputy Medical Director at York and Scarborough Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “When the existing Emergency Department opened at Scarborough Hospital in 1985 the annual attendance was 15,000 patients per year. We now see close to 70,000.

“Not only will this new facility function as a hub for the 24 hour a day provision of urgent and emergency care services for the locality, it will also allow Scarborough-based health care professionals to provide high quality care to all our patients in state-of-the-art facilities for many years to come.”

The project includes a two-storey new build combining and expanding the current emergency department, same day emergency care and the acute medical unit. As well as improving outcomes for the frail elderly, it will also ensure some of the most critically ill patients in the hospital are cared for in one integrated clinical ward environment rather than being moved to other wards.

The second floor will house critical care services and will increase bed capacity which will help relieve the pressure on beds elsewhere in the Trust.

The scheme also includes work to address essential site-wide engineering infrastructure which will see huge improvements to the electrical system, ventilation and drainage.

Simon Morritt, Chief Executive, said: “This development is extremely good news for our staff and for the Scarborough community. It will move us forward significantly in the delivery of urgent and emergency services that are fit for purpose and of a quality that our staff and our communities on the East Coast can be rightly proud. It marks York and Scarborough Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s commitment to the long term future of Scarborough Hospital and brings urgent and emergency care into the 21st century for the local community.”

The event also marks the launch of York and Scarborough Hospitals Charity’s Urgent and Emergency Care Appeal, which will raise funds to support the extras to enhance patient care and experience and to support staff wellbeing.