NHS Frimley Health Foundation Trust, responsible for running Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, is overseeing plans to modernise the hospital.
As part of its major refurbishment, proposals for a new cancer drug centre – known as an aseptic centre – were given the go-ahead by Slough Borough Council in November last year.
The hospital’s existing aseptic suite prepares around 750 chemotherapy doses a month. In 2023, 9004 doses were prepared inside the suite.
But the building is no longer ‘fit for purpose’ with many parts used inside the suite needing to be replaced over the years.
In the last year, these costs exceeded £5,000, so a new aseptic suite was described as a ‘key aspect’ in the overall modernisation of the hospital.
The Frimley trust put forward plans for a two-storey 520sqm aseptic suite described as ‘crucial’ for what the hospital needed to deliver to its patients.
Due to ‘costs and time implications’, the trust stopped progressing with the initial plans.
But the ‘urgent and cost-effective’ construction of a replacement building is stilll needed so a revised application was put forward.
The trust is now looking to build a smaller aseptic suite near the main hospital.
The aim of the aseptic suite is to ‘deliver an exceptional development that meets and exceeds urgent clinical care needs and corresponds with the location’, the application said.
“There is a critical need for the aseptic suite to enable local cancer treatment production capacity and allow the trust to maintain this aspect of its healthcare functions serving the local community,” it added.
The scaled-down one-storey building will have a 331sqm footprint, with the necessary specialised spaces including isolation and clean rooms, office spaces and a ‘seamless connection’ to the hospital.
In their decision to approve the revised plans for the aseptic suite, Slough Borough Council’s planning officers recognised that the council was effectively granting permission for two buildings with the same purpose.
But the planning agent confirmed that the hospital trust has ‘no intention’ of bringing forward the previously approved plans for an aseptic suite, ‘as it is too expensive’.
Before the redevelopment can start, an ‘outdated, worn and unsightly’ office building currently on site will need to be demolished.
This time around, to reduce costs and time, the aseptic suite will be built off-site before being brought to the hospital.
When it comes to job opportunities, the application recognised aseptic suites are ‘heavily dependent’ on a trained and skilled workforce able to work within strict regulations.
The new aseptic suite will allow the hospital’s trust to retain many employment roles and bring job opportunities for suppliers to the aseptic suite, as well as construction jobs.
“[The proposals] present a perfect opportunity to provide the regeneration, environmental enhancement and employment opportunities, but above all it enables the next stage in the life cycle of the trust’s provision to serve its communities and make care accessible for patients,” the application said.
Visit slough.gov.uk and enter the planning reference number P/06622/096 in the council’s planning portal to view the plans.