It was announced in December, that land at Bailrigg East close to Lancaster University is being earmarked for the new hospital to replace the crumbling Royal Lancaster Infirmary as part of the New Hospital Programme.
The government has now announced the timescales, saying that the previous Tory government’s commitment to deliver 40 new hospitals around the country by 2030 was “behind schedule, unfunded and therefore undeliverable”. For the planned new hospital to replace the RLI, they have and setting a new “realistic timetable” for construction to start between 2035 and 2038 at a cost of £1bn to £1.5bn.
City Councillor for Scotforth West Ward, Tim Hamilton-Cox said:
“It is a shame that Labour locally has allowed residents to think that a new hospital was to be delivered in south Lancaster when government had set aside no funding to make it happen. This is exactly what the Tories did between the first announcement of the Royal Lancaster Infirmary’s inclusion in the New Hospitals Programme in 2019 and the general election in 2024.
When setting out the phasing of the hospitals programme, Wes Streeting, the Health secretary, said on Monday that it will be some time between 2035 and 2039 before construction of a new hospital even starts: the RLI is now relegated to the ‘3rd wave’ of hospital renewals. Given this ‘start’ date is after at least two more general elections, there can be no certainty it will happen even then.
A new hospital is the best solution but in the absence of the resources to deliver it we now need the Integrated Care Board and hospital trust to look at how to make healthcare delivery better for staff and patients in the places that we have got.”
Andrew Otway, City Cllr for Scotforth East added:
“The Labour government seems hell-bent on a new programme of austerity, instead of considering raising more revenue, especially through taxes on the very wealthy. A wealth tax would give more headroom for investment in health treatment and prevention. This is investment that is greatly needed.”
Members of the public were to be invited to have their say on the new hospital and its proposed site through a survey and a series of public engagement events. However, in light of the delay to the programme, the local NHS has decided to suspend public engagement on the proposed sites. The planned programme of public events and independent market research will be cancelled until further notice. https://newhospitals.info/
