Refurbishment of South Walks House Outpatient Assessment Centre
Health organisations in Dorset secured more than £14million to transform two floors of South Walks House in Dorchester into clinical space.
Dorset County Hospital (DCH) had been running an Outpatient Assessment Centre on one floor of the building, which is owned by Dorset Council, since November 2021.
This was initially set up as a temporary measure to tackle NHS waiting lists and was created as part of the Dorset Health Village - a partnership between NHS Dorset, Dorset HealthCare, Active Dorset and Live Well Dorset. Patients were invited to attend orthopaedic, musculoskeletal and physiotherapy appointments.
The temporary centre was a great success and, in March 2022, DCH signed a 20-year lease with Dorset Council to use three additional floors of the building on a long-term basis - allowing the Trust to maximise the use of clinical space on the main hospital site.
The building is now being used for a combination of clinical and office purposes, with non-clinical teams using two floors of the building.
The funding came from NHS England's Elective Recovery and Community Diagnostics Programme to turn the temporary centre into a more permanent facility and expand the clinical services offered at South Walks House.
The newly refurbished Outpatient Assessment Centre opened in February 2024. Find out more about the facility
Ridgeway Ward Refurbishment
As part of the funding bid for South Walks House, Ridgeway Ward is being refurbished into a 24-bedded ward for orthopaedic elective surgery patients.
The £1.4million scheme is being funded by NHS England and is the second phase of a the project.
The refurbishment on Ridgeway Ward will help the Trust reduce waiting times for elective orthopaedic surgery and improve patient outcomes. Read more.