Plans unveiled for new maternity theatre at Tameside Hospital

Plans for a new maternity theatre in Tameside have been tabled in order to improve care for expectant mothers. 

The new two-storey building would be built next to the current maternity centre on what is currently a car park on the grounds of Tameside General Hospital. The new theatre building would contain the maternity theatre; a scrub/prep room; a recovery room; storage rooms; as well as changing and showering facilities for hospital staff.

A linkway connecting the new building to the main hospital building off Fountain Street is also included in the plans.

Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust believe this development, with 385sqm of floor space, will be a ‘sustainable solution’ towards improvement of services.

Planning papers read: “This new theatre will allow patients greater access to planned/emergency procedures within the locality as well as supporting staff with increased and improved medical facilities.

“This additional theatre allows for a total of two functioning maternity theatres within the department. This greatly enhances the capacity for theatre procedures reducing pressure on other departments within the wider area.

“New and innovative modern facilities compliant to HTM/HBN standards will improve/staff experience which in turn provides benefits to recovery and standard of care given.”

A ‘plant’ will be created on the first floor of the building in order to power the new facility. Patients will be able to access the building via the linkway from the existing maternity ward.

This plan comes in the wake of Tameside General Hospital’s maternity services dropping from a ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ rating with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The health watchdog explained in their March report that there had been a ‘deterioration in the standard of care’.

The inspection report, published on Friday, March 15, found ‘some areas of the maternity unit weren’t clean and not all staff had completed infection prevention and control training’. The report also said ‘staff didn’t always keep good care records, nor were they stored securely’.

The planning report from the trust did outline that their ‘infection prevention and control specialists’ have been consulted throughout the design process. This will form part of their vow, following the inspection result, to create a robust plan to address the areas for improvement identified by the CQC in order to provide the highest quality of service for our community.”

The plans are currently undergoing consultation with local residents and are expected to go before the planning panel at Tameside Council for approval.

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