A £49 million Accident and Emergency department revamp is being planned at Wexham Park Hospital, one of the nearest A&E’s for people in south Bucks.
“Exciting” plans to build a new emergency department and assessment centre at the Slough hospital – which is a 14-mile journey along the M40 from Wycombe Hospital – will soon be on display.
Campaigners have been calling for High Wycombe’s A&E to return for 10 years since it was closed, but were told by MP Steve Baker that such talks would be “irresponsible”.
People needing urgent medical attention in the area currently face a journey to either Stoke Mandeville Hospital or Wexham Park Hospital, with the latter being criticised as an option by Mr Baker two years ago when he filmed his awful “journey” from Wycombe to Slough.
The funding for the hospital has recently been announced by Wexham Park Hospital bosses the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, a different group from Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust which runs the hospitals in Wycombe and Stoke Mandeville.
The proposed new emergency department would contain separate children’s and minor injuries units as well as 36 individual rooms for major injuries and a 34-bed combined assessment and ambulatory care centre.
If approved, construction work could start in spring 2017.
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust will be sharing its vision for the £49m project at a public engagement event on May 25.
Travelling from Wycombe Hospital to Wexham Park Hospital is about a 14-mile journey along the M40.
Visitors will see details of the plans and can discuss them with staff involved in the project and some of the technical team.
Director of HR and corporate services, Janet King, said the trust would welcome public views on the scheme.
She added: “The new emergency department and assessment centre is the latest stage of our ongoing commitment to provide the highest standards of care for our patients.
“We do hope you will join us to see our ideas for this development and hear how it will benefit people treated there.”
The proposal is part of a multi-million pound investment programme to transform services at Wexham Park and Ascot’s Heatherwood Hospital over the next few years.
The proposals will be displayed at the hospital’s John Lister Postgraduate Centre on Wednesday, May 25, between 3pm and 8pm.
For more information, visit www.fhft.nhs.uk/your-hospitals/wexham-park/wexham-new-ed-plans
What do you think of the plans? Have your say by commenting below or email andrew.colley@london.newsqeust.co.uk
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