A turf cutting ceremony on Friday 15 February marked the start of our work to construct an aerial walkway linking Weston Park Cancer Centre with the Royal Hallamshire Hospital for the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust.

The new glass walkway will enable patients to be directly transferred to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital and vice versa without the need to be transported by an ambulance or taxi, meaning staff will not have to wait for transport to be available before they can transfer patients between the two hospitals.

Kirsten Major, interim chief executive for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We already have a walkway linking the Jessop Wing with the Hallamshire Hospital and so the new link to Weston Park completes the connections across all three sites.

“It means we can transfer patients in a timely, convenient, dignified and safe way without patients having to go outside and for our staff it provides a safe, comfortable and quicker link to use rather than having to walk outside.”

The project is part of a wider programme to transform the cancer services and facilities which serve Sheffield, the wider region and nationally, which has already seen investment in a £7m ward refurbishment programme and the creation of a dedicated Weston Park Assessment Unit.

We are delighted to mark the start of the new aerial walkway construction with this ground-breaking ceremony. Our specialist staff and supporters have worked tremendously hard to get us to this point, and it is an important part of the overall transformation of facilities at Weston Park Cancer Centre.

Dr Trish Fisher, Clinical Director for Weston Park Cancer Centre