Latest updates

Moving in 

Staff start to move in (left to right) – Nikki Richardson, operating department practitioner, Amalia Clements, operating department practitioner, Penny Roberts, matron, Alice Bagamba, sister, Raymond George, healthcare assistant and Efi Simou, clinical care co-ordinator

Services are moving into the new building in phases over the summer months before the hospital fully opens in autumn 2018.

A significant amount of work is underway to ensure a safe, smooth transfer of patients, services and staff to the new hospital. All staff and volunteers are being trained to use the new equipment and technology to make sure they are familiar with every element of working in the new hospital before it opens to patients.

If you have an appointment over the summer months it may be in the new Chase Farm Hospital. If so, we will let you know where to go. From the autumn all patients will be seen in the new hospital.

Going behind the scenes

Alan McGlennan, Chase Farm Hospital medical director, shows local residents and community groups, the new ‘barn theatres’

Local residents, staff, other NHS partners and local council members had a sneak peek behind the scenes at the new Chase Farm Hospital ahead of the official handover in July.

On a bright afternoon, visitors were able to admire the views from the wards over the Hertfordshire countryside and hear first-hand how the new cutting-edge barn theatres will improve patient safety.

The tours, led by CFH chief executive, Natalie Forrest, medical director, Dr Alan McGlennan, and senior clinical operations manager, Amanda Johnson, also took in the outpatients department, the urgent care centre and the central atrium.

Commenting on the tour, local resident, Eva Salisch, said: “The tour was a real eye-opener. The hospital was so much bigger, more theatres and rooms than I had really imagined from the pictures at meetings. It’s brilliant and something to be truly proud of. Congratulations and very many thanks for giving us the opportunity of seeing it ‘in the flesh’.”

The visitors heard how the hospital will be at the forefront of pioneering new ways to deliver better, safer and more efficient care to the population we serve, through new and innovative technology.

Staff who have been involved in the design and build of the new hospital were also given the chance to look around and show their families the project they have been working on for the past four years.

To ensure that everyone gets a glimpse of the new hospital, we took a series of videos on the tours. You can find these here.

New energy centre

The new state of the art energy centre, operated by EDF Energy, will provide power, heating and hot water for the new hospital, using a highly efficient and lower carbon combined heat and power plant.

Large thermal stores will be used to store excess heat generated by the plant and allow it to be used in the hospital when it is needed – as well as being able to export any power not used back to the national grid. 

Using our theatres in new and innovative ways

The opening of the new Chase Farm Hospital has given us a fantastic opportunity to use our hospitals in a different way.

One key opportunity is to improve the way we use our theatres. Increasing our planned surgical work at Chase Farm Hospital will enable us to use our facilities and staff in the most effective and efficient way. It will also help us to free up space at Barnet Hospital for medical and surgical emergencies and allow the Royal Free Hospital to focus on specialist surgery.

In particular, orthopaedics, ear, nose and throat, maxillofacial, general and gynaecological surgery will mostly be carried out at Chase Farm Hospital.

Specialist equipment is being installed in the barn theatres

There will be eight main operating theatres including four ‘barn theatres’ specifically designed for orthopaedic work. The term barn theatre refers to the open-plan design of our main surgical area, where each patient will be treated in a dedicated space alongside the next patient, with a specialised air canopy over each station to prevent the spread of infection. The barn theatres will have adjoining anaesthetic rooms and traditional recovery areas. Benefits of barn theatres include lower infection rates, improved safety and enhanced team working.

All theatres and outpatient clinics will run from 8am to 8pm each weekday, offering patients more choice and making sure all our new facilities are used most efficiently.

Single rooms

Evidence shows that single hospital rooms increase physical and psychological comfort, reduce infection rates and improve patient satisfaction around privacy and dignity.

The surgical inpatient floor in the new hospital will have 50 beds in total, 42 of which are single rooms. The outlook from every patient bed space is to surrounding countryside and all rooms make use of natural light to promote wellbeing. 

Involving our patients

Listening to what patients and carers say has played a key part in the redesign of our patient pathways (the route that a patient will take from their first contact with an NHS member of staff to the completion of their treatment) for the new hospital.

Patients, staff and members of the local community have played a key part in the design of the new hospital, helping to choose and test equipment and furniture. They have also worked with us and the Royal College of Art on ways we can improve navigation and wayfinding, which is a problem in the current hospital. By involving those who will be using the new hospital in the design process we have learnt from their experience and ideas.