PAH bosses admit that new hospital for Harlow won’t be built until at least 2028
Health / Fri 8th Apr 2022 at 10:43am
A NEW hospital for Harlow to replace Princess Alexandra Hospital is not expected to be built until at least 2028, a local health chief.
Michael Meredith, director of strategy at Princess Alexandra Hospital, said the opening of a new campus planned near the soon to open junction 7a on the M11 for that date is entirely dependent on a review the government is carrying out on how to standardise each of the new hospitals being rolled out across the county to cut costs.
He warned Essex County Council’s health overview policy and scrutiny Committee on April 7th that “UK plc is on a very different place now than it was when the programme was announced”.
However, he is confident of receiving funding which could be around £800m to pay for a new site.
He said: “The 2028 date is completely reliant on the outcome of the design conversion review and at the moment I do not know what the outturn of that will be.
“We have to be realistic that UK plc is on a very different place now than it was when the programme was announced and that there are some very difficult decisions ahead for the government but they are clearly out of our hands at the moment.”
He said that while the programme business case for the national programme was scheduled to be completed in the spring and it is expected it to be signed off by HM Treasury by the end of the autumn, the Harlow project will not be able to proceed until all that is completed.
He added: “We are strongly supported by the new hospital programme. They have stood behind us all the way so far. They talk about our scheme extremely highly.
“We are a completely brand new standalone hospital on a greenfield site. It is an extremely attractive project for the programme and the industry so we are very confident we will get funding.
“However it is a difficult circle to square for the programme at the moment.”
“They have £3.7b that has been allocated and it will be considerably more than that to build 48 new hospitals.
“So they have to work out how the funding will flow hence the time it is taking them to develop the programme business case and go to treasury.”
He added that an important part of the planning application would be the transport strategy.
He added: “Yes there will be enough car parking. Will it lead people to travel by public transport to the hospital? Absolutely there will be an expectation of a modal shift away from the car.
“But we do recognise that people do need to travel to the hospital by car and people will always travel by car particularly if you are going in for an operation.
“At the moment we have car parking planned for about 1,700 spaces which is nearly double the capacity at the existing site but I can’t guarantee that at the moment because it will be a conversation we have with planners and working through our strategic transport approach.”
Report by Local Democracy Reporter.
Julia Long
2022-04-08 11:40:52
2028! What a joke, we need a new hospital now!! All these promises we get about getting it soon, I wouldn’t call 6 years soon. Our hospital is way too small for the area it covers, and parking…… don’t get me started on that one. Staff are getting fed up with all the outdated equipment and how often it doesn’t work. So if we’re supposed to be getting a new hospital, then please tell me why new buildings are popping up and taking car parking spaces?
Orinoco
2022-04-08 12:37:51
Didn’t Robert Halfon and other Tories including the Prime Minister himself promise that a new Hospital would be built in Harlow within the next couple of years? They were obviously, once again, empty promises made by a party and Government that promise much and deliver little.
Tomsk
2022-04-08 13:01:37
"...at least 2028"?? Probably wont see it until 2030-something, if at all! Interesting because I have just looked back at the "exciting" reports and statements made in September 2019 by Boris Johnson and Robert Halfon promising that 48 new hospitals would be built in England, including one in Harlow. There were comments at the time that the building should start no later than 2025. Well, that was obviously another lovely-sounding election bribe that wont actually come true. More broken promises!
JD
2022-04-08 15:18:46
Maybe instead of building a new hospital, they could build a warehouse to store PPE it now doesn't need. https://bylinetimes.com/2022/04/08/waste-uk-spends-at-least-23-4-million-to-dispose-of-unused-ppe/ The level of wasted tax payers money this government spends is staggering. £12billion was spent on PPE, £4billion cannot be used by the NHS. If it costs £3.7b to build a new hospital, this government is spending at least £23million to dispose of the equivalent of a new hospital. Utter incompetence.
Mike
2022-04-08 15:32:13
Maybe if Rishi Sunak’s wife paid all of the tax she is supposed to be paying, they would be able to build these hospitals sooner!
Brian
2022-04-08 15:33:11
Tomsk, do you really think that the statement you quoted about building should start no later than 2025 means that suddenly the building fairies would plonk a fully completed hospital on the site immediately? Building such a complex thing as a hospital would take a number of years to complete so 2028 seems to me within the time frame for your own accepted start date of 2025. Regards to Uncle Bulgaria :-)
Nicholas Taylor
2022-04-08 15:48:56
One of the reasons put forward for building the hospital on a new site was that it could be opened a year earlier than if it stayed on the present site. Clearly that will not happen now and leaves the Tory pledge to build a new hospital in tatters. Perhaps signs of things to come with their pledge to regenerate the Town Centre? I see the sum of £800 million is spoken about, was this not £616 million just a few months ago? Building on a new site must be more expensive than creating a new hospital on the present site if only because all the services such as gas and electricity are already there and of course there is no land purchase costs. As I understand it, the new site is partially on a flood plain and has a large gas main running through it which will need to be avoided, all adding to the cost. It is worth noting that the cost of the new hospital for Watford has increased to over £1 billion. The hospital is a key piece of the infrastructure needed to support the building of more than 23,000 homes in and around Harlow, the delay in building the new hospital must throw the housebuilding plans into doubt.
Tomsk
2022-04-08 15:50:30
Hi Brian. I didn't think that at all. My point is that, just before a General Election, Robert Halfon and Boris Johnson promised a new hospital for Harlow (and another 48 in total across the country). It was stated that building work would start in 2025. Now, we are being told that it wont probably be completed until AT LEAST 2028. That probably means that it wont be built until well after that date. And according to the report above, it certainly doesn't sound like building will start in 2025. I think the Mr Halfon and Mr Johnsons promises were probably more due to the coming election rather than any actual real belief that the hospitals would be completed when they said they would. And do we really believe that we will get 48 new hospitals?? I don't think so. Great Uncle Bulgaria sends his regards.
gary roberts
2022-04-08 16:19:32
Mr. Halfon always, and I mean always, works hard for Harlow. How do I know this? Well he says it lot and in 2019 the electorate of Harlow believed him. Do you believe it now? I suspect he will blame the delay on that note in the Treasury again and again back in 2010. It is BS and will leave this town without a fully staffed hospital for at least a decade leading to preventable deaths sadly. The exceptional staff are using small plasters to cover deep wounds and in some cases leaving the NHS out of frustration and stress because of it. Then we have the local doctors' surgeries in the town not opening fully to deal with their patients and thus adding more pressure to the current hospital. It is a disgrace but remember Mr. Halfon and his disgusting government are working hard for you: aren't they? NO!
peter henegan
2022-04-08 16:52:02
I am sure only recently Boris shouted out at PMQs about 40 new hospitals being built. Still it gives the tories something to announce every few months. Seriously, it does seem that it is intended to be built by the M11 which of course isn't even in Harlow but allows for the town centre development to take place with the certainty that the hospital is moving. I wonder if the work undertaken on junction 7a has included appropriate infrastructure for the hospital
Richard
2022-04-08 16:54:02
There is some debate that the land earmarked for this site is Sheering. So its just dawning on the MP and Harlow Council that the £4million each year in Business/Non Domestic Rates that they currently get may very well disappear and be paid instead to Epping Forest District Council.Ooops (egg on face ?)
George Luckey
2022-04-08 16:57:05
Thought this would happen. Promises Promises all come to nothing. If the powers that be have any sort of responsibility, then the new development at Gilston must be put on hold, as if it goes ahead without having the new hospital in place, it will be a disaster. PAH cannot cope at is is, and with 23, 000 plus extra homes being built and due to the fact that most of the people living in them will come from out of town, the added population is something PAH cannot cope with.
Richard
2022-04-08 17:48:14
George L....You are not wrong... By coincidence, this morning, I sent PAL Harlow an email about another issue......And their auto email reply says "......Owing to limited capacity within our service we are currently working on a 5-10 day acknowledgement of queries".......And that's just to get an 'acknowledgement' and not necessarily an answer to the general question asked. Perhaps, for the next 12 months, at least, the CEO and Senior Management team should change their focus from the delayed Sheering Hospital, back to sorting out the many Admin issues at the existing Hospital ??
Tony Durcan
2022-04-08 18:39:35
They haven’t secured the new site yet. Whilst I fully support a brand new PAH you start to wonder if developing the current site may come back on the agenda.
Edward
2022-04-08 19:10:50
The new site will increase travel distance for most residents. There's space on the current site to start building upwards just as St George's in Tooting South London. As for parking issues could be easily solved by making bus travel easier, cheaper, a high quality service or trams and by making parking multi story. It's the only high rise build that we need . The development of the current site could start virtually immediately stage by stage over the six years when nothing would happen if the idea of building at the edge of town on a precious green field site.
Nicholas Taylor
2022-04-08 20:01:12
The Harlow Alliance Party have been following this issue very carefully for over three years, at times the only members of the public attending meetings. The site near the new M11 junction was the preferred site for a new hospital and I repeat that one of the reasons it was picked was that it would be open sooner than if they stayed on the present site. The former Square site should be purchased and a multi storey car park built on it, freeing up land on which a new hospital could be built.
Edward
2022-04-09 23:32:37
There's acres of space on and near the current site and additional parking at the town centre car parks and bus station, so as Nicholas said plenty of space on site to redevelop. No need for any delay, start tomorrow!
P
2022-04-10 19:07:36
Just another major let down for the Harlow and surrounding areas, we should all be getting used to it by now
DecHan
2023-04-25 05:01:35
It will be a long time coming yet the new hospital for Harlow that is as all parties involved in the process will have to agree on a plan where they all make loads of money out of the project.
Leave a Comment Below:
19 Comments for PAH bosses admit that new hospital for Harlow won’t be built until at least 2028: