The latest addition to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill will be waiting a little longer to open its doors to patients.
The North Carolina Surgical Hospital is pushing back its opening date to late August, as a recent burst pipe caused flooding and damage on the weekend of July 5. An email from the hospital’s leadership team of President Janet Hadar and Dr. Matt Mauro — who is president of UNC’s faculty physicians — was sent to employees on July 11 confirming the postponement.
“To maintain quality care and patient safety, we need more time to ensure we manage the repairs, appropriate testing and other disruptions in a thoughtful way,” Hadar and Mauro wrote. “To achieve this and support the smoothest transition possible for our patients and care teams, we anticipate moving into our new hospital in late August. We recognize this update – so close to our anticipated opening date – may be disheartening or frustrating. We know that to deliver quality care to the people we serve in a facility befitting our team’s skill and expertise, this is the right call.”
UNC Health Director of News Alan Wolf confirmed the email’s contents to Chapelboro, saying the water leak damaged part of the building’s backup electrical system and the hospital’s leadership is prioritizing the safety of its patients and teammates.
“Delays aren’t unusual for a construction project of this scope and complexity,” Wolf said in a statement. “The N.C. Surgical Hospital is the largest addition to UNC Hospitals’ Chapel Hill campus since it was built in 1952. We look forward to offering the most advanced surgical care for patients from across the state for years to come.”
The seven-story, 375,000 square-foot building held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours for UNC Health, university and local leaders in April as the tower was finishing construction. The facility, which cost around $425 million to build, will have 26 operating rooms, 80 ICU beds and 59 pre-and post-operative suites for patients once opened — nearly all of which represent expanded space and numbers compared to the current surgical setup. At the time, Hadar and UNC Health projected the North Carolina Surgical Hospital opening in mid-July, but no date had been set due to remaining construction and hiring to fill the 100 new positions needed to fully staff the building.
In the July 11 email, Hadar and Mauro told employees the leaders of each department will be in touch with those directly impacted by the delay and shifted timeline. Additionally, they said more facilities testing and simulations will be completed between July and the opening in late August to “better prepare us for the transition.”
The North Carolina Surgical Hospital is within the rest of UNC Hospitals’ Chapel Hill campus off Manning Drive, and was constructed where two parking lots used to be.
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