Homerton hospital to start building work on a new pathology department

A hospital department that deals with the study and diagnosis of disease will have a makeover this spring.

Homerton University Hospital, Homerton Row, Homerton, will commence work on a new pathology department to replace the existing one, which is more than 20 years old and is said to have “outgrown the existing facility”.

Building work will take about 12 to 14 months and the department should be completed in the summer of 2015.

It will be the largest building scheme undertaken since the hospital completed its maternity wing in 2010.

The new department will be built alongside the hospital building on the site of the old fertility building and, along with pathology, it will also house the infection control team.

Project lead Felicity Canning said: “The existing department has long since outgrown the existing facility. Staff have had to be very creative with space to accommodate new analysers over the years to keep the service at capacity.

“A project team has been working on the scheme for several months to ensure appropriate space and design for the new service. The laboratory is designed over three floors with clear demarcation between the clean and dirty areas.

“The new build will enable biochemistry and haematology (blood sciences) to work together in one clinical space, bringing together two disciplines that have been physically separated in the existing building.”