Bayhealth marks five years at Sussex Campus

On Feb. 5, Bayhealth marked the five-year anniversary of the opening of Bayhealth Hospital and Outpatient Center, Sussex Campus, in Milford. On that date in 2019, Bayhealth staff carefully moved patients from Milford Memorial Hospital to the new Sussex Campus.

“Ever since, Bayhealth has been on an upward path that is transforming the health and healthcare of the people we serve in the southern region,” said Bayhealth President and CEO Terry M. Murphy, FACHE. “Our commitment to this community and to each other can be felt the moment you walk through our doors. It’s a commitment to providing leading-edge medicine to a region and meeting the health and social needs of an entire community – now and for generations to come.”

Just one year after opening, in fall 2020, Bayhealth Hospital Sussex Campus was named a Top Hospital by The Leapfrog Group. Bayhealth was one of only 105 hospitals in the U.S. to receive this designation and the only hospital in the state of Delaware to receive this honor.

Shortly after opening the new facility, construction began on the Nemours Building, Sussex Campus – a shared medical office building with Nemours Children’s Health. It fully opened adjacent to the hospital and outpatient center in 2021. The 35,000-square-foot, three-story building contains offices for Bayhealth doctors on the second and third floors. Services include primary care, ENT, endocrinology, maternity care, urology, bariatrics, neurosurgery, plastic & reconstructive surgery, and cardiology. Nemours Children’s Health offers services on the first floor for pediatric and select senior patients.

Changes within the hospital and outpatient center include an additional 24 private patient rooms on the fifth floor and an expansion of our Women’s and Children’s Services program with an additional five private birthing rooms as well as a planned separate operating room reserved for C-section patients right down the hall.

Currently Bayhealth is partnering with PAM Health to build a rehabilitation hospital on the site and adding 40 medical/surgical beds and six intensive care unit beds to Bayhealth Hospital, Sussex Campus to enhance care for the community. Soon construction will begin on the Bayhealth Childcare Center meant to support team members and their families.

What’s more, over the next 10 years, the community will see a wide range of Bayhealth facilities and services flourish in the county as part of Bayhealth’s master plan. The Sussex Campus may also feature new doctors’ offices and space for medical education/research and EMS staging, as well as workforce housing and wellness options.

Not far from the Sussex Campus, Bayhealth’s 24-hour hybrid care center – Total Care – opened in July 2023 to eliminate the need to choose between an urgent care or an emergency room to handle sudden symptoms. Total Care is truly “total” – because patients can also see primary care doctors and specialists there, in addition to getting lab services and imaging.

As Bayhealth grows in capacity, expertise and preference, so will the communities it serves continue to benefit. As its annual Community Report attests, it provides more than $140 million a year in benefits to those in Sussex and Kent counties. Among those benefits are health screenings, nurse-run clinics, community-based clinical services, health professions education, subsidized health services and community building activities, among others.

Of course, with all the new facilities and plans to get more healthcare to neighbors, Bayhealth also needed to plan to have enough health professionals to deliver the care. In recent years, Bayhealth has ramped up its recruitment and retention efforts, including its graduate medical education programs and new hematology/oncology fellowship to attract more doctors.

“We couldn’t accomplish these milestones for our community without the personal commitments our Bayhealth team members and clinicians make each day to do their jobs at the highest level. To our more than 4,500 team members and clinicians – ‘thank you’ for helping to define the future of medicine for our community in the southern region,” said Murphy.

And Bayhealth is equally as grateful to its community which continues to say Bayhealth is their preferred choice. 

“We’re excited about all the opportunities ahead for Sussex County and all the areas we serve,” said Murphy. “And I’m confident to say that no matter your health needs, we are committed to you, and we’ll continue to live out our commitment for decades to come.”

Go to Bayhealth.org to learn more about services throughout Kent and Sussex counties.