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A new Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) has officially opened at Worthing Hospital following a major investment project delivered by Morgan Sindall Construction.
The single-storey, steel-framed facility, designed to treat up to 40,000 patients a year, will provide care for people with non-life-threatening conditions. It replaces the hospital's former UTC and has been relocated to sit alongside the Emergency Department, improving patient flow and access to urgent care.
The opening was marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by A&E staff, with the Morgan Sindall project team and University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (UHSussex) members in attendance. Guests later toured the new spaces before gathering for speeches and refreshments.
The centre includes a spacious waiting area, eight consultation rooms, a dedicated paediatric waiting space, and clinical support facilities. Its construction required significant logistical planning, including relocating the A&E entrance and carefully managing noise, vibration, and traffic across the hospital’s 24-hour ‘blue light’ route.
Worthing's Emergency Department is the busiest in West Sussex, handling around 100,000 visits a year, with demand rising by about 5% annually. The UTC was designed in collaboration with Crowther Associates Architects, Ward Williams Consulting, HOP Consulting, and Paine Manwaring/EXI MEP.
Once patients begin using the new centre this autumn, work will start on a Same Day Emergency Care unit in the East Wing, where the previous UTC was based.
The project also delivered a boost to the local economy. Around 64% of the workforce lived within 20 miles of Worthing, while more than £940,000 in contracts went to local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Guy Hannell, Area Director for Morgan Sindall Construction in the Southern Home Counties, said: "It's a fantastic accomplishment to celebrate the opening of Worthing Hospital's new Urgent Treatment Centre. This project is so important to deliver the facilities and treatment that the local community needs, and it’s been a pleasure to work closely with Worthing Hospital to coordinate the construction process in a live hospital environment."
