UHDB hospitals set for infrastructure upgrades after multi-million pound funding award
NHS facilities in Derbyshire and Staffordshire are set to benefit from nearly £8 million worth of infrastructure upgrades that will improve hospital environments for patients and staff.
As part of an announcement from the Department of Health and Social Care on the new Estates Safety Fund, it was confirmed that University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB) NHS Foundation Trust would receive close to £6.3 million to support a variety of building improvement schemes, while £1.5 million will go to Chesterfield Royal Hospital (CRH) NHS Foundation Trust to help develop its facilities.
The funding given to UHDB will play a part in enhancing the sites at Florence Nightingale Community Hospital in Derby and Queen's Hospital Burton, with work beginning in the summer set to include improvements to internal building fabric and fixtures, as well as energy and ventilation systems - all with the aim of enhancing the experiences of patients and staff when they are receiving care or working in one of these environments.
Andrew Selby, Director of Estates and Facilities Management at UHDB, said: "We are delighted to have secured this valuable funding, which will help our ongoing work to ensure our buildings meet the standards that enable our staff to deliver quality care, while improving our efficiency as a Trust for patients, visitors and colleagues.
"These improvements will sit alongside wider work we are doing to improve the efficiency and sustainability of our hospital buildings, including the installation of solar panels as part of our drive to 'go green' as a Trust, and save money and energy for the NHS."
Alex Green, Interim Director of Operations for DSFS Ltd (wholly-owned subsidiary of Chesterfield Royal Hospital), said : “The announced funding is a great boost and will enable us to work to carry out improvements which will ensure that, as well as fulfilling our mission for service excellence, our patients are cared for in an environment that supports the exceptional care we are proud of. We look forward to beginning to deliver these improvements as soon as possible, which will complement the existing programme of improvement works, including our large-scale Solar project set to be delivered in early 2026.”
The Estates Safety Fund is part of a £1.2 billion investment from government into public infrastructure improvements across settings including hospitals and schools.