Gloucestershire Royal Hospital's critical care department could be modernised and expanded in the coming years, with plans being submitted for a new five-storey building at the Gloucester site.
The Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has applied to Gloucester City Council for permission to build a new facility to house a Department of Critical Care (DCC) Unit, after identifying a need for more accommodation for patients.
The trust says the current DCC, located in a tower block next to the proposed site of the new building, provides 19 beds and no longer has the capacity to meet existing clinical demand, or support projected growth of three per cent each year.
The new building would have 24 critical care beds in open-plan wards, 12 isolation beds, and supporting spaces including stores, dirty and clean utility, and patient testing.
It would also have offices and rest and welfare facilities to support staff in shifts, and relative spaces including including waiting rooms, overnight accommodation and a kitchen.
The increased capacity would amount to a net increase of 20 per cent in critical care accommodation beds, while there would be a 20 per cent increase in medical, nursing and admin staff to operate the new unit.
The new building will also aid improvements across the wider department, with the trust saying the tower block building 'has reached end of life and requires urgent modernisation'.
Relocating staff and patients will enable urgent works, including upgrades to mechanical and electrical systems, the fire alarm, nurse call system, and the air handling unit, to be completed within the tower block, without the DCC being closed down.
The trust says of the tower block works: 'This urgent programme will take four years and will involve each ward including the DCC being decanted for six months, meaning the new build DCC unit needs to be operational as soon as possible'.
It says that due to these requirements, a modular design solution has been chosen for the new building 'to ensure fast delivery'.
The scheme is due to be considered by the council in early November 2026.
