Statement in response to New Hospital Programme announcement
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting MP, made an announcement in the House of Commons this afternoon outlining the outcome of the review of the New Hospital Programme, including an updated timeline for existing schemes. St Mary’s, Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals have been included in the third wave, which would see building starting between 2035 and 2039.
Statement in response to New Hospital Programme announcement:
Professor Tim Orchard, chief executive of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “This is devastating news for our communities, our staff and patients, and for the whole of the capital’s healthcare system.
“We understand that the Government’s New Hospital Programme must be affordable but the simple truth is that St Mary’s Hospital, in particular, will not last until the 2040s.
“We run London’s busiest major trauma centre and care for more than a million patients a year. We need to digest the detail of today’s announcement, but we have to find a way to progress our schemes more quickly. This includes exploring alternative funding approaches, leveraging the value of our land that will be surplus to requirements and the significant contribution of our life science partnerships to local and national economic growth.”
