HRH The Princess Royal officially opens Northampton General Hospital's new Paediatric Emergency Department

The new Paediatric Emergency Department

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal officially opened Northampton General Hospital‘s new Paediatric Emergency Department today (Tuesday, September 14, 2021).

The £2.9m new facility – which has been built over the last seven months – will improve care for the 28,000 children who require hospital emergency department support each year. 

The Princess Royal arrived at the hospital and was received by the Lord-Lieutenant of Northamptonshire, James Saunders Watson.

Her Royal Highness then met senior hospital leaders, clinicians, volunteers, and key NHS partners involved in the county’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, before moving onto the department itself.

There she had a tour of the new building and met the clinicians and staff that run the department before unveiling a plaque to officially open it.

Northampton General Hospital’s Urgent Care Matron, Michelle Coe, said: “It was a great honour, and very exciting, for our team to welcome The Princess Royal to officially open our fantastic new Paediatric Emergency Department.

“For children and young people, and their families, the new department creates a dedicated, safe, child-friendly environment, in which to receive the help they need during times of illness or injury.

“It has its own entrance, which is entirely separate, and is a huge improvement on the previous paediatric area which only had three rooms and was located inside the hospital’s main ED.”

Nurse Manager for the department, Kerry Marriott, said: “It is so much better. It is purpose-designed, light and airy, and has a range of great facilities including some new additions such as a dedicated injuries assessment area, a safe area for patients presenting in mental health crisis, a high dependency bed space, and a private feeding room.”

Other facilities include a dedicated triage room, three waiting areas (one of which is a separate space for adolescents), four trolley assessment spaces and six assessment rooms.

Northampton General Hospital’s Chief Executive Heidi Smoult, said: “This is an important new facility for the hospital which will help us to deliver paediatric care in the right dedicated environment.

“We were deeply honoured that The Princess Royal agreed to open the department and this was a great morale boost for staff in the department, and indeed the whole hospital, after all of the difficulties of the Covid pandemic.

“The new department will help us to provide the right kind sensitive care for children and adolescents and means our hard-working staff have a much-improved working environment.”