MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands: New Isolation Unit

The first stage of the work on the Elderly Care Ward, the replacement of the Isolation Unit, is well under way. The new Isolation Unit built, by Mach-Aire in Lancashire, is due to arrive on the 14th December.

The foundations at the North East corner of the hospital are almost up to full height and the unit should be placed on them by Mach-Aire engineers and Morrison's staff in late January. This work will also involve building a link corridor from the North East bay of the ward.

The next stage will be relocating maternity into the North East bay.

The preparatory work will be starting in the next week or so, kicking off with the creation of the internal corridor to the Isolation Unit.

Most of the main work, which includes creating two maternity rooms in the bay and a delivery room across the corridor, will start in late February. The building works will need to stop in January/February for a few weeks to allow specialist visits by an Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon and a Gynaecologist.

The final stage will be the creation of the Elderly Care ward, in the area currently occupied by maternity and two bays at the West end of the ward. Work is due to start in March.(FIBS)