Cellular Pathology (Cell Path) will temporarily move from its existing home at the Royal Victoria Infirmary’s New Victoria Wing to other sites on the shared Newcastle Hospitals / Newcastle University campus.
This move will enable refurbishment to take place, as part of a planned 12-month programme of works. It will also help to prepare the Cell Path site for future service growth.
Currently Cell Path is located on Level 3 on the New Victoria Wing of the RVI but will temporarily move to the Sir James Spence (SJS) Institute on Level 2 of the hospital.
Cell Path is planning for this relocation to have minimal clinical impact.
While Cell Path’s service will remain open during each of these moves, there will be two significant changes:
- Specimen Reception at New Victoria Wing will close to sample receipts from 5pm on Wednesday 23 August, moving to Sir James Spence Institute from 8am on Thursday 24 August
- All remaining Cell Path staff will begin to vacate New Victoria Wing with moves completed to Wolfson Building on Friday 29 September
Please note there will be a temporary reduction in Cell Path capacity during and just after these moves. This will allow the teams to relocate and perform necessary testing to ensure that patient safety and the quality of service is maintained.
During this time, clinical reporting Turnaround Times (TATs) may be extended temporarily for some results. Urgent specimens will continue to be prioritised, and all requests should be sent as usual.
The decant period is expected to last between 9 and 12 months in total and will be followed by a return move back to New Victoria Wing.
Cell Path’s general contact phone number, email address, and mailing address will not change and if you have any questions about the move the team can be contacted as follows:
Phone: 0191 282 4445
Email: tnu-tr.CellularPathologySecretaries@nhs.net
Mailing address: Level 3, New Victoria Wing, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Queen Victoria Road, Newcastle upon-Tyne NE1 4LP
