New discharge lounge being created at King’s Lynn Queen Elizabeth Hospital by MTX
Modern methods of construction (MMC) specialist MTX is creating a 6-bed discharge lounge and associated support accommodation ward at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn.
The facility is being constructed as a stand-alone building to enable it to be reused when the planned new hospital is built. Bespoke ground floor and first floor corridors link back to the main building & hospital ‘street’, and construction includes a new bed lift for easy patient access to the ground floor discharge area. Internal fit out of the new building includes HTM compliant air handling systems along with power, medical gases and other bedside services.
The two-storey build is located in a courtyard at the rear of the hospital site. The new location will allow easier access for patients and staff and will take high volumes of site traffic away from the busy hospital ‘front door’ and Emergency Department areas of the site. It will also enhance privacy for patients being discharged.
The new discharge lounge was commissioned to support the on-going RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) failsafe programme of works within the QEH site. The existing discharge lounge sits within a single storey area that will be demolished as part of the RAAC eradication works.
The contract was awarded by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHS Foundation Trust, and MTX is working with the Trust’s multi-disciplinary design and construction consultancy partner exi which is managing the RAAC failsafe programme at QEH. MTX and modern methods of construction (MMC) methodology was chosen following the company’s successful delivery of the new Endoscopy building on the QEH site in 2023. MTX had demonstrated an understanding of the complexity and specific site issues associated with QEH and building within an active blue light area.
MTX Managing Director David Hartley explained: “The modular building has been fabricated offsite whilst complex enabling works and site preparation was undertaken prior to the units arriving on site. Re-routing of existing services and the constraints of a tight courtyard site surrounded by live hospital wards and the Macmillan centre meant craning in modules would reduce overall site/construction time and fit within the tight RAAC programme, whilst minimising disruption to the existing site operation and services.
“Using MMC principles enables us to maximise offsite manufacturing opportunities and the use of precisely engineered structural modules to build faster, safer, greener and more cost effectively. Successful completion of other projects with the Trust laid the foundations for the award of this contract, to continue improving patient facilities at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.”