Saturday, September 02, 2006
Go-ahead for billion pound-plus wave of new NHS Hospitals
- Hundreds of single rooms set to replace Victorian wards -
- Biggest hospital building programme in the NHS' history will pass the £10 billion mark -
Health Minister Andy Burnham today gave the go-ahead for six new NHS hospital private finance initiative (PFI) developments worth close to £1.5 billion. The new facilities, which include hundreds of single rooms, will offer more private and personal care to patients living in areas up and down the country, from Salford to South Devon.
Up to half of the beds at the new hospitals will be in single rooms, in a shift away from large, public wards to more private and personal accommodation.
Leicester's scheme will involve an investment of £711 million in a mixture of new and refurbished buildings across the three hospital sites. A brand new women's hospital will be built at Glenfield and a stand alone children's hospital will be created at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. The General will become a dedicated planned care and rehabilitation hospital to support the other two emergency sites. Additionally the scheme will include a Multi Professional Education (MPET) and Training Centre and a Clinical Research Centre.
South Devon Healthcare NHS Trust will provide separate nursing bays for men and women in a £163 million redevelopment of Torbay Hospital. Tameside and Glossop Acute Hospitals NHS Trust will also replace two Nightingale surgical wards under a £68 million scheme.
The first new hospital buildings are expected to open from 2010.
Andy Burnham said:
"We are delighted to be able to give the go-ahead for these new hospitals. This is great news for the hundreds of thousands of patients who will benefit from the modern, bright new buildings. The new facilities will not only be the best in terms of design and quality, but they will be affordable well into the future.
"Each scheme has been rigorously checked to make sure that it offers value for money and delivers services that are needed by local patients. The agreed re-developments will deliver those services local patients need for £400 million less than the trusts' original proposals.
"These developments are just part of our commitment to the biggest hospital building programme in the history of the NHS. New facilities like these are replacing inadequate and outdated hospitals across the country."
The new hospital buildings receiving the go-ahead are:
- University Hospital North Staffordshire NHS Trust - £272 million scheme to build a new community hospital and cancer centre
- Tameside and Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust - £68 million investment in three day-case operating theatres, new surgical wards and a 30 place day hospital for elderly mental health patients
- Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust - £112 million new hospital with more single rooms, an enhanced A&E and three new operating theatres
- Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust - £140 million for the complete re-development of the Manor Hospital site
- South Devon Healthcare NHS Trust - £163 million re-development of Torbay Hospital with diagnostic centre offering MRI scans, more single rooms and day-case operating theatres
- University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust - £711 million for new and refurbished buildings including a brand new women's hospital and a stand alone children's hospital to be created at the Leicester Royal Infirmary.
The go-ahead for the six new hospitals follows a Department of Health review to check that all the schemes were locally affordable.
The multi-million pound developments will bring the combined investment in new hospitals to more than £10 billion since 1997 once the six schemes reach financial close. A total of 76 schemes (58 PFI and 18 public capital) are already built and open, with another 30 under construction.
The six new hospital schemes are just the latest in a wave of new NHS facilities to take key steps towards opening. The £1 billion Barts and the Royal London private finance initiative (PFI) scheme - the biggest ever - was approved in March, and in June the department gave approval for University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation NHS Trust and St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust to proceed with their PFI schemes.
In July, the department announced a £750 million investment in a new generation of community hospitals offering patients more blood tests, x-rays and minor operations outside of large hospitals.
- Biggest hospital building programme in the NHS' history will pass the £10 billion mark -
Health Minister Andy Burnham today gave the go-ahead for six new NHS hospital private finance initiative (PFI) developments worth close to £1.5 billion. The new facilities, which include hundreds of single rooms, will offer more private and personal care to patients living in areas up and down the country, from Salford to South Devon.
Up to half of the beds at the new hospitals will be in single rooms, in a shift away from large, public wards to more private and personal accommodation.
Leicester's scheme will involve an investment of £711 million in a mixture of new and refurbished buildings across the three hospital sites. A brand new women's hospital will be built at Glenfield and a stand alone children's hospital will be created at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. The General will become a dedicated planned care and rehabilitation hospital to support the other two emergency sites. Additionally the scheme will include a Multi Professional Education (MPET) and Training Centre and a Clinical Research Centre.
South Devon Healthcare NHS Trust will provide separate nursing bays for men and women in a £163 million redevelopment of Torbay Hospital. Tameside and Glossop Acute Hospitals NHS Trust will also replace two Nightingale surgical wards under a £68 million scheme.
The first new hospital buildings are expected to open from 2010.
Andy Burnham said:
"We are delighted to be able to give the go-ahead for these new hospitals. This is great news for the hundreds of thousands of patients who will benefit from the modern, bright new buildings. The new facilities will not only be the best in terms of design and quality, but they will be affordable well into the future.
"Each scheme has been rigorously checked to make sure that it offers value for money and delivers services that are needed by local patients. The agreed re-developments will deliver those services local patients need for £400 million less than the trusts' original proposals.
"These developments are just part of our commitment to the biggest hospital building programme in the history of the NHS. New facilities like these are replacing inadequate and outdated hospitals across the country."
The new hospital buildings receiving the go-ahead are:
- University Hospital North Staffordshire NHS Trust - £272 million scheme to build a new community hospital and cancer centre
- Tameside and Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust - £68 million investment in three day-case operating theatres, new surgical wards and a 30 place day hospital for elderly mental health patients
- Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust - £112 million new hospital with more single rooms, an enhanced A&E and three new operating theatres
- Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust - £140 million for the complete re-development of the Manor Hospital site
- South Devon Healthcare NHS Trust - £163 million re-development of Torbay Hospital with diagnostic centre offering MRI scans, more single rooms and day-case operating theatres
- University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust - £711 million for new and refurbished buildings including a brand new women's hospital and a stand alone children's hospital to be created at the Leicester Royal Infirmary.
The go-ahead for the six new hospitals follows a Department of Health review to check that all the schemes were locally affordable.
The multi-million pound developments will bring the combined investment in new hospitals to more than £10 billion since 1997 once the six schemes reach financial close. A total of 76 schemes (58 PFI and 18 public capital) are already built and open, with another 30 under construction.
The six new hospital schemes are just the latest in a wave of new NHS facilities to take key steps towards opening. The £1 billion Barts and the Royal London private finance initiative (PFI) scheme - the biggest ever - was approved in March, and in June the department gave approval for University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation NHS Trust and St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust to proceed with their PFI schemes.
In July, the department announced a £750 million investment in a new generation of community hospitals offering patients more blood tests, x-rays and minor operations outside of large hospitals.
