Public open days planned for St Mary’s health campus

NHS Portsmouth is to open its doors to the public to show off the new £18.6 million community health campus at St Mary’s – weeks before it opens.

Staff are hosting six ‘open days’ from 28 November to 2 December when they will give a series of 45-minute long guided tours during two to three-hour windows.

Catherine Webster, project manager for NHS Portsmouth, the city’s primary care trust, said: “We’ve chosen different start times across five different days of the week to try to encourage as many people to attend.

“This community health campus is being built for the public – so we want them to know how their money has been spent, and to explain the thinking behind our planning.

“Not every room or facility on show will be fully kitted out with all its equipment, but this is a one-off chance – or six one-off chances – to get a good look around to find out the facilities and services that will be on offer.

“This is obviously going to be an exciting new local health development, which will complement existing services at Queen Alexandra Hospital and provide community facilities on the doorstep for people on Portsea Island.

“These open days are free for anyone to turn up at any time in the individual sessions. We will have plenty of staff to show our visitors around. There is no need to book in advance, but parking will be limited – so we would ask people to only travel by car if they really need to.”

The campus, which has attracted £17.1m of Department of Health funding, will open next year on part of the former St Mary’s Hospital site.

The rest of the land is being sold by Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust (PHT), which moved many of its services from the site to the redeveloped Queen Alexandra Hospital two years ago.

A new Out-Patients’ Department (OPD) has already opened on the campus to replace its demolished predecessor and other major facilities will include a new midwife-led maternity centre and a 12 to 16-bed GP-led intermediate care wards for patients.

Contractors BAM have been on site since 2009, converting and refurbishing the former maternity and paediatric blocks. Other services to be run from the site will include sexual health services, podiatry, phlebotomy, speech and language therapy and chronic disease management.

Visitors wanting to attend the Open Days should report to the main reception at St Mary’s at least 30-minutes before the session closes on the following dates/times:

• Monday 28th November, 1.30pm to 3.30pm
• Tuesday 29th November, 10.00am to 12.00 noon
• Wednesday 30th November, 12.00 noon to 3.00pm
• Thursday 1st December, 10.00am to 12.00 noon
• Thursday 1st December 4.00pm to 6.30pm
• Friday 2nd December, 10.00am to 12.00 noon. 

For more details about the  Campus, visit www.portsmouth.nhs.uk and then click on the Your Health tab.