BCP Council has now granted full planning permission for the expansion of Poole operating theatres, creating a state of the art facility and bringing substantial benefits to patients. The plans include replacing the day theatres which date back to the 1960s. The work has included a Covid-19 and infection control review to ensure the services are as future proofed as possible.
The improvements will serve patients currently using services as they are now, as well as ensuring they meet the future needs of Poole's designation as the county's major planned care hospital. Patients and staff will experience much more space and better layouts, which will mean more patients can be cared for, and with greater privacy and dignity. We were pleased to see no objections to this application.
This follows Council approval last week of the planning application for the changes here, which include improvements to transport and access to the hospital, and the creation of expanded ED and critical care services, and new maternity and children's departments.
The programme of works will run up to 2026 and are part of a £250m investment in bringing our hospitals up to the latest and best standards.
As we become University Hospitals Dorset, how you contact Poole, the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch hospitals will change from 1 October.
Telephone numbers beginning 01202 are being replaced with a new 0300 019 prefix, followed by the last four digits of the old number.
Switchboard numbers will stay the same - however if you are called by the hospital this will display as coming from the new 0300 019 prefix.
There are currently a range of different dialling prefixes which our patients and the public have told us can be confusing.
From 1 October there will be just one - 0300 019.
If you keep a hospital telephone number handy, it's simple to update it – just add the last four digits to the new prefix. For example, an old telephone number beginning 01202 and ending in extension '1234' becomes 0300 019 1234.