Established in 1957 by the Hong Kong Anti-Tuberculosis Association (currently known as Hong Kong Tuberculosis, Chest and Heart Diseases Association (HKTBA)), Grantham Hospital (GH) is one of the seven hospitals in the Hong Kong West Cluster (HKWC) of Hospital Authority (HA), serving the residents of the Central and Western District as well as the Southern District. GH is currently providing a range of services in medicine, especially specialized services for cardiac diseases, tuberculosis and chest diseases, geriatric services, palliative care, rheumatology and immunology services as well as ophthalmology services. GH comprises the Main Block (built in 1950s), Kwok Tak Seng Heart Centre (built in 1982) and other blocks including Staff Quarters and a School of General Nursing for the training and education of enrolled nurses in HA.
In view of the anticipated rise in the elderly population served by HKWC, it is important to allow patients, especially those with chronic conditions, to have timely and one-stop comprehensive ambulatory care on a multidisciplinary basis to prevent long-term complications.
According to the Clinical Services Plan for the HKWC, in addition to the existing services, GH will be redeveloped as an academic ambulatory care centre, with strong presence of cancer service, integrating clinical services, teaching and research. Taking the opportunity, The University of Hong Kong will establish two centres under the redevelopment of GH, namely HKU Jockey Club Centre for Clinical Innovation and Discovery, and HKU Jockey Club Institute of Cancer Care, which will serve as platforms for translational research by adopting the most advanced technology in screening, diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and, at the same time, for developing programmes to address the psycho-social needs of cancer patients. The two centres will provide a one-stop centre for teaching, research and clinical practice. With the close proximity of clinical and research facility, it will also be a platform for nurturing the next generation of scientists and clinicians and bringing innovation in science rapidly to the bedside.
On the other hand, the redevelopment of GH is recognized as essential to the hospital development to incorporate appropriate modern health care service delivery models to meet the increasing health care demand. Most of the buildings of GH were constructed over 50 years ago without any major refurbishment project undertaken. The physical condition of the hospital blocks has deteriorated to an undesirable state while the existing facilities lag behind modern health care standards in terms of space provision, ward layout, structural loading and infection control. Besides, different blocks are scattered over the hospital site without any linkage connecting the various buildings for convenient access for patient, staff and the public.
The redevelopment of GH will be carried out in two phases. Phase 1 redevelopment comprises the demolition of the Senior Staff Quarters, Nurse Quarters Block 1 and Block 2, decanting works, and construction of two new blocks. Implementation of the phase 1 redevelopment project includes three works packages, namely (i) preparatory works; (ii) demolition, site formation and foundation works; and (iii) main works.
The preparatory works and the demolition, site formation and foundation works of the phase 1 redevelopment of GH respectively began in 2018 and in the third quarter of 2020.
