It’s our biggest ever investment in healthcare

4:46pm Wednesday 29th November 2006

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I am responding to the letter from T Hayes concerning the development of St Helens Hospital, that was printed in the St Helens Star on November 9.

The investment into St Helens Hospital will be £85 million, and building will be complete in just over two years time. The following facilities will be provided: -

• 140 inpatient and day case beds, with plans to build a further 60 beds currently being drawn up with the local Primary Care Trust
• 68 outpatient rooms, increasing outpatient capacity at St Helens to 200,000 attendances per year
• 6 new theatres
• State of the art X-ray and endoscopy facilities.

This is the biggest ever investment into healthcare in St Helens and will result in much improved facilities. The Trust recently received the highest possible score for the quality of services provided from the Healthcare Commission, which is a huge tribute to the hard work and commitment of our staff. The new building will enable us to provide these services in top quality accommodation.

In response to the query about nurse training, in the past year, St Helens and Whiston Hospitals have employed 76 newly qualified nurses.

Securing this scale of investment with healthcare facilities is a difficult and challenging process and I am grateful for the support the Trust has received in achieving this.

Ann Marr, Chief Executive, St Helens & Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust