IT'S taken ten years to plan, three years to build and cost a total of £27 million but Lancaster's new hospital building finally opens its doors to patients on Sunday. The first step in the major re-organisation of the Royal Lancaster Infirmary starts on Sunday January 14 when the Accident & Emergency department moves to the new, 10,000 square feet Centenary building. The new A & E unit is the first step in the completion of Phase III of the hospitals modernisation and includes:

state-of-the-art computerised X-ray facilities with direct links to the Radiology unit meaning that the days of using a portable X-ray machine and transferring film between departments are over.

a relatives' room offering comfort and privacy for people waiting to find out how their loved ones are doing.

a purpose-built children's waiting room and toilet.

two extra trolley beds.

All the transfers into the new building are due to be completed by the end of January with the new operating theatres next on the agenda for transfer on Monday January 22.

Ian Cumming, the chief executive of Lancaster Acute Hospitals NHS Trust which runs the RLI, stressed that the upheaval won't affect patients.

He explained: "We will be continuing to treat patients and providing our full emergency services as normal. At the same time we are aiming to achieve the smoothest possible transfer of the services moving into our building."

By the time February rolls around, orthopaedic wards, children's wards, surgical wards, intensive care and a new children's outpatients department will be housed within the Centenary building.

That's just in time to celebrate 100 years of the Royal Lancaster Infirmary which was founded back in March 1896.

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