The Prime Minister today confirmed for the first time the five hospitals in the Midlands as part of the 40 hospitals that will be built by 2030.
The schemes are part of a total package worth £3.7 billion, with eight further new schemes invited to bid, delivering on the government’s manifesto commitment.
Out of these, at least five will be located in the Midlands. The new hospitals will be:
· University Hospitals of Leicester, rebuild at Leicester Royal Infirmary and Glenfield & new facilities at Leicester General.
· Kettering General Hospital, Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Rebuild of Kettering General in the second phase of the Health Infrastructure Plan (HIP2). Options being developed to move to a hot/cold configuration or a single-site rebuild.
· Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham City Hospital , Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Rebuilding of both the Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital sites in HIP2. Configuration options cover a range of new build and refurbishment.
This number also includes two which are already currently under construction or pending final approval:
· Midland Metropolitan Hospital, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust
The new Midland Metropolitan hospital, which is currently under construction, will bring together urgent care services from three hospitals across the region into one state-of-the-art site, promoting better patient safety and care while ensuring value for money.
· Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Pending final approval, a national rehabilitation centre will be built at Stanford Hall, near Loughborough.
New standards will be developed over the coming months to help standardise the design of new hospitals and make use of modular construction methods to speed up the build.
The Health Infrastructure Plan is the biggest hospital building programme in a generation. It launched last September with a £2.8 billion investment that gave six new hospitals the funding to go ahead, alongside seed funding for Trusts to work up business cases.
The Trusts that received seed funding will now all be fully funded to deliver 25 new hospitals.
A new Shotley Bridge hospital is a further signal of the government’s commitment to rebuilding across the north of England, as we drive forward with our levelling up agenda. Other new schemes will be invited to bid for funding for eight more new hospitals – a proportion of these will be mental health hospitals.
The long-term investment in these new hospitals will ensure the NHS can continue to provide world-class care right across the country in the years to come.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
“The dedication and tireless efforts of our nurses, doctors and all healthcare workers have kept the NHS open throughout this pandemic. But no matter what this virus throws at us we are determined to build back better and deliver the biggest hospital building programme in a generation.
“From Morpeth to Milton Keynes, we are building 40 new hospitals across England to level up our NHS so more people have top-class healthcare services in their local area.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:
“We protected the NHS through the peak of Coronavirus. Today we recommit to protect the NHS for years to come with the 40 new hospitals we will build over the next decade, including five in the Midlands alone.
“I love the NHS and I will do all I can to make sure it is there for you and your family over the years to come. The biggest hospital building programme in a generation will help protect the NHS long into the future.”
Alongside this, as announced last year 20 hospitals will receive a share of £850 million to upgrade outdated facilities and equipment, with enabling works already beginning at several sites.
Over the summer the Prime Minister announced £1.5 billion funding in capital funding for the NHS, including £450 million for A&E upgrades ahead of winter to improve infection control and increase capacity.
This investment will be on top of the record extra £33.9 billion a year by 2023 to 2024 that the government is providing to the NHS, and passed into law this year.
Alongside work to deliver the Government’s Manifesto commitment on the 40 new hospitals, progress is also being made on delivering 50,000 more nurses, with over 14,100 more working in the NHS compared to last year, as well as over 9,200 more doctors.
