Best possible conditions for medicine, research, teaching and innovation
Bundling all clinics at Oberer Eselsberg is the UKU's vision for the future. A holistic concept is needed to ensure that Ulm University Medicine can continue to meet the demands of healthcare in the future. This structural development of university medicine - known as master planning - is constantly taking on a more concrete form.
Parallel to the ongoing conceptualisation of the master plan, the conditions for its implementation are already being created. These include various construction measures on the Oberer Eselsberg campus in order to further develop existing building structures and reorganise them for the future. In addition, Ulm University Medicine is securing medical innovations in the long term by investing in new specialised research and laboratory locations.
The masterplan
All units of University Medicine are to move closer together. In the long term, all UKU clinics should therefore be located at the Oberer Eselsberg site in the immediate vicinity of Ulm University. This is the only way to utilise synergies that are central to the system services of University Medicine. Interdisciplinary diagnostics and treatment of complex diseases will be even more important in the future.
The aim of the masterplan is to bring the specialist departments together in one location and thus meet the requirements of university medicine of the future in terms of construction, infrastructure and processes. The entire range of modern university services, including all inpatient emergency care, will be provided at the highest level of care. This will create the best possible conditions for research, teaching and innovation. Business synergies and optimisations are also to be achieved through consolidation at one hospital site.
The masterplan will be implemented in several construction phases. The chronological sequence will allow adjustments to be made to meet future medical developments and requirements. The modular structure means that functions can be adapted as required.
The current organisational principles are strongly oriented towards individual clinics. However, some of the clinics are already linked to form centres: for example, the three internal medicine clinics as the Centre for Internal Medicine or the Centre for Surgery. At the University Hospital, there is also a wealth of thematic issues that cross disciplinary boundaries, such as in oncology.
The Comprehensive Cancer Centre (CCCU) provides highly complex and innovative services in which not only specialists from internal medicine and surgery, but also from radiology, palliative medicine and radiotherapy, for example, play a key role. The aim will be to strengthen the structure already established at the CCCU and provide it with an overarching, infrastructural framework.
This will enable us to offer patients suffering from tumours or cardiovascular disease a single address where all the necessary specialists can work together to develop the best possible treatment.
The masterplan focuses on the Oberer Eselsberg, where a large part of clinical medicine is already located. The entire university is also located here, with which the UKU is aiming for even stronger networking in the future. The "centre of gravity" will be the new surgery department.
The next major step is the realisation of Module 1 along Albert-Einstein-Allee to the east, where an extremely efficient building will be constructed. In order to offer patients a central, clearly identifiable point of contact, an intermediate building will be erected on the currently undeveloped area in front of the main entrance. This will serve as an inviting entrance portal and connect the surgery and new building complexes.
The planning steps were carried out in close and intensive consultation with the state of Baden-Württemberg, the University and Faculty of Medicine as well as the city of Ulm.
One major advantage of the new structure is that distances will be shorter. The transport routes between Surgery and Internal Medicine are currently very long in some cases. The plan is that patients will later find a building in which the services required for appropriate diagnostics are located. Oncology in particular, i.e. cancer medicine, will then be recognisably reflected in the building.
In addition to more efficient processes, the new structure will also help to pool resources and expertise, meaning that identical services will no longer be provided twice at different locations. This strengthens interdisciplinary collaboration and thus optimises the quality of care at the UKU.
For employees who currently work at the Michelsberg and Safranberg clinics, the relocation of all clinics to Oberer Eselsberg will of course also change their place of work and their previous working environment. With the new buildings and the new structure, the aim is to improve working conditions in order to achieve recognisable added value in patient care, research and teaching.