New home for Musgrove’s vascular department

Staff from Musgrove Park Hospital’s vascular department have been setting into their new premises at the back of the hospital’s Old Building.

The team made the move into the newly refurbished area – which previously housed the hospital’s surgical admission unit (ward 2) – to make way for the demolition of much of the
Old Building in preparation for the construction of a new surgical centre.

Louise Vickery, vascular specialist nurse at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (FT), said the move was hard work but the team rose to the challenge to get everything ready.

“The move has been talked about for over two years so we’re delighted to finally be here,” she added. “It’s a lovely area in comparison to the space we’ve moved from – the rooms are
really nice and it’s bright and airy.

“Patients have told us that they really like the new environment and have commented that it’s clean and fresh, and even looks like a new build from the inside. Our duplex rooms are now together, which makes it so much easier for our healthcare assistants who run the clinic. There’s also more room for patients who need to use a bed – it’s generally an all-round better experience for them.”

The teams who have moved into the new area include the NHS trust’s duplex nurses, vascular investigations and pre-op, nurse practitioners, vascular surgeons, vascular nurses, podiatry team, medical team and admin team, which includes the AAA screening team.

“By keeping these teams together we’ve been able to facilitate more rapid treatment for patients, including the development of treatment plans so decisions can be made more quickly,” said Louise.

Mr Andrew Stewart, a consultant vascular surgeon at Somerset FT, said: “Such a lot of work took place in advance of our move as we needed to redesign an old Nightingale-style ward to fit the needs of a modern clinical facility.

“The move went well, but just like moving house there were the inevitable things we hadn’t planned for, but colleagues in our team went above and beyond to ensure we were ready to
welcome our first patients without any gap in service. Our vascular nurses in particular were incredible as they helped our estates teams to move boxes and furniture – very different to their normal day at work!”