Major expansion of Norwich Community Hospital facing delays

The £19.2m Willow Therapy Unit at Norwich Community Hospital was given the go-ahead earlier this year and is around halfway through being built.

Once complete, the new facility will add 48 new beds to the Bowthorpe Road site and provide therapeutic and rehabilitative care. 

An artist impression of how the WIllow Therapy Unit will look once it is completed. Picture: NCH&C (Image: Merit)

It is hoped the increased capacity will result in shorter stays for patients in acute hospitals and alleviate pressures on wards, ambulances and emergency departments.

But delays in granting the scheme planning permission have seen its opening day pushed back, and the first patients are not expected to be treated there until around Christmas.

It was originally expected to be up and running in June, but planning consent for the project was not granted until May.

The unit is being constructed in a factory in Cramlington, near Newcastle upon Tyne, before being delivered to the site in Norwich and fixed into place.

It will be made out of modular buildings called 'UltraPODs', some of which are already on site.

(Image: MERIT)

It is expected the final pods will be delivered in the coming weeks - and that the delays will not take the project over budget.

A spokesman for the Norfolk Community Health and Care Trust, which runs the hospital, said:  "More than half of the unit is in place and we expect to see the remaining pods delivered in the coming weeks, with the unit open for patients before Christmas.

"It will play a vital role in the provision of patient-centred care in Norfolk and Waveney, supporting patients as they move from acute hospital back into the community and reducing the risk of hospital readmission."

(Image: MERIT)

While construction has been carried out, the trust has also re-purposed the former Priscilla Bacon Lodge at Colman Hospital as a similar facility - which will remain open until the unit is complete.