Our #BehindtheBuilding campaign celebrates the people, partnerships and stories behind University Hospitals Plymouth's new £247m Emergency Care Building, focusing on the human aspect of the Future Hospital Programme and the wide variety of roles involved, not only in the design and construction, but also hearing from those who will be working in the new building once open.
In the first of our #BehindtheBuilding series, we talk to Dr Ian McCarthy who works as a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Derriford Hospital. He is also the Clinical Senior Responsible Officer for the Emergency Medicine aspect of the new Emergency Care Building (ECB).
How long have you been involved in the ECB?
So I’ve been involved in the project since 2020, when I was working as a Registrar. Initially that was alongside one of my consultant colleagues but I’ve now taken over from them. I initially worked with the architects to design the department itself, to think about what space we might need, and from then with the contractors to look at how we physically build the department, whilst still running an Emergency Department alongside it as well.
Why is it important to have a Consultant in Emergency Medicine involved in the new Emergency Care Building?
What’s really important is that it’s designed around the people who are going to be working in it and the patients who will be using it. So what I bring to the project is that clinical oversight, to make sure that the space not only looks good and is structurally sound, but it works in terms of how we manage our patients and how we manage our flow through the department. It’s important that I work alongside the architects and the Future Hospitals Programme team to make sure the building is fit for purpose, not just now but for in 20-25 years’ time.
What’s it been like to be involved in a project like this?
The scale of the project is enormous, it’s bigger than anything I’ve ever done. We’re spending £247 million, pouring tens of thousands of tonnes of concrete and building a space that’s going to be thousands of square feet. So the numbers involved are quite mind boggling when you think about it.
What’s really fantastic is that they let us have a tour around the site every now and then as well, so going in with my hard hat and high vis just to actually see the building going up is really great.
What is it like seeing the building go from paper to reality?
It’s quite hard to picture it when it’s all on paper, but actually seeing it coming up out of the ground now is really exciting, especially as for a period of time there was some uncertainty as to whether we would get the funding to do this. I think it’s only really once you see it being built that you realise the sheer scale of it. This is an enormous building that will change the face of the hospital. So to finally see cranes on site, concrete being poured and the shape of the building coming together - it’s fantastic to see it all come to life.
What do you think will be the key benefits of the new ECB?
It’s not only going to be a much bigger department that’s the right size for the demand we’re going to see in the next twenty years, but it’s also going to be a much more pleasant place both for our staff and patients to be. It’s going to be lighter, brighter, cleaner, modern, up-to-date and it’s going to be able to give us the ability to provide modern emergency care for the people of the South West.
The ECB is also essentially going to be the front door for our organisation. So if you are acutely unwell and you need to come into the hospital, you will benefit from having joined-up care right at the start of your journey. This building is going to combine all our emergency capability as well as our surgical capability, our medical floor and some other specialist interventions like Interventional Radiology, all in the same building, at the front of the hospital. So it’s going to be where you come in to have your initial treatment and initial assessment before moving onwards if you need to.
What are you most looking forward to when it opens?
I think what this building represents is the ability to provide the care we want to for our friends and our family, but equally it will be a building that we all want to work in.
I’m really looking forward to welcoming our first patients into the new Emergency Department and being able to say ‘This is the future of Emergency Medicine in the South West. This is a new bright, clean facility where we can cater for you, look after you, and get you on the road to recovery’. Equally it’s going to be a really exciting moment for our staff, knowing that all their input and all their efforts - working around the building site, working around all the noise and the disruption - is actually going to translate into something really tangible for our patients.
What do you think patients and staff are going to appreciate most when the building first opens?
I think our patients are going to notice how different it feels to our current Emergency Department. The department is nearly 50 years old and you can really feel that when you’re walking around it. The new facility is going to be cleaner, much brighter, and it’s got the space to be able to care for patients in a more dignified fashion. I think for our patients to know that they are in a building that’s been built specifically for what they need will be great.
It’s also going to be fantastic for our staff as well. It’s where we’re going to be training the next generation of Emergency Medicine doctors, nurses and Allied Healthcare Professionals and so over the lifetime of this building, there’s going to be so many people working in here who are going to be caring for people, moving into the future as well.
How do you feel about the investment in healthcare in Plymouth?
It’s a really exciting time for Plymouth. There’s so much going on, with the Community Diagnostic Centre and other projects too. For me, providing this facility is a real vote of confidence in the people of Plymouth. We’re not just the hospital for Plymouth, we’re also the Major Trauma centre for the whole of Devon and Cornwall. So it’s a real confidence vote in the investment in the health of the people of the South West.
I live locally and my family live locally, so it’s great to know that not only is this facility there for them if ever they need it, but hopefully it’s somewhere that I’m going to be working for the next 20-25 years as well.
