Delay in the move of services

University Hospitals Dorset is undergoing a £500m transformation to develop east Dorset’s major emergency hospital at Royal Bournemouth Hospital (RBH) and the country’s largest planned care site at Poole Hospital.

We had been planning the next phase of our major service moves later this summer as part of this. These include Poole’s Emergency Department, critical care and child health inpatients moving to RBH.   

Our main contractor for the Coast Building at RBH has now advised us of a delay in completion. The Coast is a vital part of our plans to safely transform services at RBH.  

Our senior teams are working with the contractor to explore all options to mitigate any delay. We hope to share the new dates for our next phase of moves once this has completed at the end of March.

We thank all colleagues who have been involved with our planning and for our previous moves, including maternity and oncology inpatients from Poole Hospital to RBH.

Poole Hospital’s Emergency Department is still open to care for patients 24/7. Until the department moves to RBH, all child health services also remain at Poole, so if you feel your baby or child is in need of emergency care, please attend Poole.

Please also help us to help you get the right support you need and only call 999 if it is a life-threatening condition. If you are unsure, call NHS 111 in the first instance to get the right support for your care.