As informed as I feel I am about local healthcare, I was surprised to discover that the construction taking place on Point Finger Road is not a new hospital.Remember when we were told the Botanical Gardens would be levelled and a new hospital built there?Remember how upset most of us were? And then we breathed a sigh of relief when we were assured our beloved Botanical Gardens would be spared, that the new hospital would be built in a phased plan on its existing site.Somewhere along the way I missed that what’s being built at the moment is a hospital wing, not an entirely new facility.And I’m not alone in this misconception. “I’m often explaining to people that it’s not a new hospital, that it’s an acute care wing a part of the existing building,” said Lynette Bean, director of Critical Care at King Edward VII Memorial.Other hospital staff echo her experience.I started working at KEMH last month and since then have come to understand the magnitude of not only the construction project (the largest ever in Bermuda), but also of the move to the new facility.It’s an incredibly intricate activity and the details are being meticulously worked on by not only clinicians and construction specialists, but also service personnel in departments like laundry, housekeeping and food services.Since the new facility is just a wing of the hospital, only some of the services will be moving there.The most important one for us all to realise and remember is the Emergency Department. It’s one of six that will definitely be moving to the new Acute Care Wing.As its name implies, services in the wing will be centred on acute care, that is, caring for those who are medically ill and/or severely wounded.This is in contrast to caring for those who have chronic conditions. Chronic conditions are long-term illnesses like diabetes, emphysema, asthma, hypertension and even congestive heart disease.The type of care required by patients who are acutely ill is quite different to that required by patients who have a chronic condition.Separating the two therefore will enhance patient care and make service more efficient.Other departments moving to the new Acute Care Wing are diagnostic imaging, oncology, renal dialysis, surgery, pain management and the acute surgical and medical wards.The Intensive Care Unit will remain in the existing facility, as will the lab, maternity ward, children’s ward and the morgue. The executive offices will also remain in the existing facility.“The new Acute Care Wing is exclusively for patient care,” said KEMH CEO Venetta Symonds. “Only departments that are directly necessary for the delivery of that care will be in the new wing,” she added.A security office as well as an admissions office, cashier and credit office will be housed in the new facility.The main hospital entrance will be the Acute Care Wing. Its lobby will be much larger than the old one and will serve as the hub between the new wing and the link to the hospital.It will include a reception desk, general seating waiting area, donor wall, cashier, retail pharmacy, retail store ATM machines and a health and wellness demonstration area.