Staff move into Northampton General Hospital’s new cancer unit
Staff moving back into the new haematology unit at Northampton General Hospital. Debbie Timson, Healthcare Assistant.
STAFF who will work in the Macmillan Haematology Suite at Northampton General Hospital have begun moving into the new build, as they prepare to open to patients on Monday.
The £2.2 million unit – which will treat people with blood cancers like leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma, has been the subject of an 18-month fund-raising campaign by the Chronicle & Echo and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Macmillan still needs to raise about £700,000 to ensure the new haematology unit can provide the best possible care for its patients, and has appealed for county residents to help it hit its £1.55 million total target in 2012.
Hospital porters and haematology staff began moving into the new unit yesterday, a process that will continue throughout the weekend, ready for it to go live on Monday.
Nettie Steele, ward sister, said it had been a long wait to get back into the unit, which staff vacated more than a year ago, after being temporarily housed elsewhere in the hospital while improvements were made.
She said: “We’re moving most things in on Friday, including boxes of paperwork and patients’ records, as well as some of the equipment we use, and will spend the weekend labelling and sorting out where everything will go, ready for Monday.
“We want it to be just right for everyone. We’ve waited 13 months to get in and everyone we treat has been really patient with us, but they and all the staff are looking forward to getting in now.”
Since January last year the unit has been housed alongside the elderly medicine department.
Nettie said: “The staff there have been absolutely brilliant. They have put up with a lot, considering they had a huge department operating out of their area for so long. But they have been very good to us and I think they will be sad to see us go, although it will be much quieter.”
Of the new unit, she added: “It’s absolutely amazing. It’s so beautiful. When we first started seeing it being built we couldn’t quite comprehend how it would be, but seeing it now it is much more than we could ever have wished for. It’s so spacious, airy and light, and there is privacy and dignity for our patients.
“It’s such a huge difference. Going in there it’s nice and bright and vibrant, but calming. We think it’s worked really well.”
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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