Response to the New Hospital Programme review
Yesterday (20 January), Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, made a national announcement about the future of the New Hospital Programme, which was established in 2019 to build 40 new hospitals across the country.
At Nottingham University Hospitals, we have two projects within the New Hospital Programme – the National Rehabilitation Centre and Tomorrow’s NUH.
The announcement was following a review by the Labour government into timelines and funding for the programme. The National Rehabilitation Centre was not included in this review as it is already under construction, and it will continue to go ahead as planned.
However, the Tomorrow’s NUH programme - a once-in-a-generation programme to redevelop both the Queen’s Medical Centre and the City Hospital sites - was included in the national review.
Unfortunately, the government have announced that the Tomorrow’s NUH programme will face considerable further delays and commencement of the main scheme of work will not be allowed to begin until at least 2037.
Anthony May, Chief Executive of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said:
“Whilst we welcome the government’s ongoing commitment to Tomorrow’s NUH (TNUH), we are very disappointed that the review of the New Hospital Programme (NHP) announced today means significant delays to the TNUH scheme.
“This will not only considerably impact our patients and staff for the coming years but will also have a huge impact on our wider communities across the region.
“This will mean a significant delay to building a new Centre for Women, Children and Families for Nottingham. Our cancer patients will have to wait an additional decade to receive treatment in a bespoke Cancer Care building. Nottingham will continue to be one of the only acute hospitals in the country without a Helipad. And we will not be able to build the much-anticipated multi-storey car parks at NUH for many years.
“With one of the largest reported maintenance backlogs in the country (amounting to £439m), the NHP investment is desperately needed, and sooner rather than later, as the current condition of our estate limits our ability to provide the environment that our patients and staff deserve. Our Tomorrow’s NUH programme will be a significant solution to these issues, as well as being a catalyst for wider change within the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire region.
“We need to fully understand the implications of the announcement and will be working with NHP over the coming days and weeks to confirm what this means in terms of the different phases of the Tomorrow’s NUH programme.”