The Need

A fire damaged a large part of the roof at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, a world-renowned cancer hospital in London. It caused fire, water and smoke damage to a number of other areas too, including wards and operating theatres. The incident affected the hospital’s surgical capacity while the experts assessed the theatres for remedial works.

The Q-bital Plan

The team from Q-bital took immediate action. They offered to install short-term mobile wards the next day at no charge. The installation of these facilities takes mere hours from their arrival on site, so they provide an excellent emergency response. The hospital subsequently accepted the offer.

The Q-bital Solution

The ward was later joined by a mobile operating theatre. The HealthcareSpaces provided services at the hospital’s Sutton site, where additional surgery was taking place while the theatres in Chelsea were being recommissioned. The team augmented the configuration of the ward and operating theatre with sealed access corridors, similar to an airport hub. This joined the mobile facilities to the existing building.

The Outcome

The seamless extension didn’t only help the Royal Marsden in the short-term with its requirement for capacity. It also enabled the Trust to meet their workload targets and concentrate on the re-building programme of the fire-damaged areas.

Tim Wigmore, The Royal Marsden Head of Critical Care, told us: “Q-bital built an excellent relationship with clinical staff and our estates department. From the outset, we had an immediate requirement to provide resource to ensure we were able to treat patients on site. Q-bital not only provided the solution but also their assistance at a time when we needed to focus on remediation and other pressing tasks.”