New £4.8m children's trauma unit will serve the south

The £4.8m children’s emergency and major trauma unit will have a state-of-the-art observation area, new cubicles and on-hand X-ray facilities.

Based at Southampton Children’s Hospital, the renovation will give the specialist team of doctors and nurses the facilities they need to carry out their work.

Currently, any child who suffers a major trauma in the south is taken to the hospital because of its expert services.

The development will have an eight-bed observation area and 11 glass-fronted and soundproof cubicles.

It will also have a reception, triage and waiting area for young patients, access to resuscitation facilities via a new link corridor, a nurse practitioner room and will incorporate the children’s assessment unit.

Dr Peter Wilson, a consultant in paediatric intensive care and director of the hospital, said: ‘We are extremely proud of the services we deliver for young patients and can demonstrate some really tangible successes, such as some of the best outcomes in the country for cardiac surgery and intensive care and exemplary major trauma care.’