Statement on the Chancellor’s announcement of a reset of the New Hospital Programme
Responding to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves statement to the House of Commons on 29 July, including that the Government will “conduct a complete reset of the New Hospital Programme, with a thorough, realistic and costed timetable for delivery”, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust chief executive, Professor Tim Orchard, said:
“We welcome the review as it is vital we get clarity on funding and approval processes for our three schemes in the New Hospital Programme – St Mary’s, Charing Cross and Hammersmith.
“Our most urgent need is for a complete rebuild of St Mary’s, London’s busiest major trauma centre. It is increasingly difficult to limit the impacts of our crumbling estate, parts of which are over 180 years old. Despite spending up to £10 million annually on essential maintenance, building failures are increasingly common. For example, one of our operating theatres has been out of action for four weeks currently due to flooding caused by roof problems, with around 240 operations relocated or cancelled so far.
“Over the past three years – and following decades of missed opportunities - we have established an incredibly strong case for the redevelopment of St Mary’s. We have made the case for both the urgency and the benefits, including the huge potential for using some of the existing 10-acre site to expand our Paddington Life Sciences partnership with Imperial College, industry and local communities to generate social and economic, as well as health, benefits.
“We also need to be able to progress full refurbishments and some new build at Charing Cross and Hammersmith where we are also spending up to £10 million each year just to stay operational.
“While the review is underway, it is essential that we are able to continue work on planning and design so that we keep all options open. We are anticipating relatively modest funding, already allocated from within the New Hospital Programme’s current year budget, to begin RIBA stage 2 design in September. This work will allow us to stay on track for delivery of a new St Mary’s by 2032, giving us time to determine when and how the main building works are funded. The majority of our central capital allocation was delayed by the previous Government until after 2030 and we have been working with the New Hospital Programme to explore funding approaches that would enable building to start before 2030. One option is to leverage the value of our own land that will be surplus to requirements once we have a new hospital on a less sprawling footprint.
“Likewise, continuing to develop first-stage business cases for our Charing Cross and Hammersmith schemes is vitally important. Both schemes will be able to be delivered in phases. Having detailed plans agreed means that we can respond immediately, as and when capital funding becomes available.
