Today, the Conservative Government have announced that Frimley Park Hospital is to be rebuilt.
The Health Secretary has just announced that Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust’s bid to the New Hospital Programme for funding to build a brand new Frimley Park Hospital has been successful. Much of the existing hospital was built using Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), which has degraded rapidly and is extremely costly to maintain and repair. The Trust’s preferred approach to resolve the RAAC issue was to build a new hospital.
Frimley Park Hospital is one of five additional hospitals being built – the others include Airedale in West Yorkshire, Hinchingbrooke in Cambridgeshire, Queen Elizabeth King’s Lynn in Norfolk, and Mid Cheshire Leighton in Cheshire. These hospitals all have significant amounts of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), a lightweight type of concrete used to construct parts of the NHS estate in the past but has a limited lifespan, after which it deteriorates significantly. The Government has prioritised rebuilding these hospitals given the risks they pose to patients and staff.
The New Hospital Programme as a whole is expected to represent over £20 billion of investment in new hospital infrastructure.
Michael Gove, alongside neighbouring Conservative MPs Leo Docherty and James Sunderland, have long been backing the Trust, supporting their bid to ensure that Frimley can continue to deliver world-class healthcare services for local residents for generations to come.
A big thank you should also be given to Neil Dardis, Chief Executive at Frimley Health, and the excellent team at the Trust for their tireless work in putting together a really compelling bid.
Commenting, Michael said:
"I have been supporting the Trust and pressing the case for a new hospital for some time, so I am absolutely thrilled with this fantastic news which demonstrates this Conservative Government’s ongoing commitment to providing state-of-the-art facilities to ensure world-class provision of healthcare for NHS patients by replacing outdated infrastructure.
"A new Frimley Park Hospital will safeguard crucial local healthcare services for generations to come, and I would like to congratulate the Trust’s team for all their brilliant work in putting together their successful bid."
Neil Dardis, said:
“Our ambition is to provide the highest quality urgent, planned and specialised care in the most modern environment, as well as deliver first class community care.
"We will ensure that all these services are delivered from a hospital incorporating the very latest sustainability and environmental initiatives and cutting-edge digital technology. We are so excited to be leading this initiative that will transform the future of healthcare for people in and around Frimley.”
