QEF Project Wins Emergency Care Centre regional design award, next stop the national finals...
An innovative new emergency unit at QE Gateshead, project managed by QEF from conception, design, though to commissioning and handover has been awarded the regional design award by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and as a result now moves through to the national finals.
The £32m Emergency Care Centre (ECC) was one of the first of its kind in the UK and is providing improved services to the public. As well as transforming the way the hospital treats emergency patients it is also an innovative new building with a range of exciting design features.
This has now been recognised by the North East RICS Awards 2016 with the ECC in three categories: Design through Innovation, Community Benefit and Infrastructure.
The new Emergency Care Centre building not only has a unique design and facilities but it completely changes the way patients are cared for during an emergency by bringing together a wide range of services including:
accident and emergency
a walk in centre
GP services
medical & surgical assessment
urgent childrens services
This state-of-the-art facility has also been designed in a completely different way to most existing hospitals. The layout has been chosen because it specifically reflects what people say they want from a modern NHS hospital, which includes single occupancy rooms with en suite bathrooms for all patients in our short stay wards.