Crumbling concrete used to build Frimley Park Hospital is the ‘driving force’ for relocation, which ‘continues to progress at pace’, NHS bosses have said.

The hospital, built in 1974, was granted funding for replacement under the New Hospitals government programme in May 2023.

The site is made up of around 65 per cent of unstable concrete, known as Raac, including in key areas of operating theatres, intensive care units, wards and corridors.

But plans to relocate the Surrey-based hospital, used by many Bracknell residents, was recently put under jeopardy after the Labour government announced they would review the New Hospitals Plan it is part of.

Following the announcement, a spokesperson from the hospital said they were working to understand what the review would mean for the hospital.

Now Cain Thomas, interim programme director for the new Frimley Park Hospital has said: “The need to remove all Raac from hospitals is the driving force behind the new Frimley Park Hospital timeline.”

Mr Thomas told the News: “Our work on the new hospital continues to progress at pace.

“Over the last few months, we have been developing the detailed, legal and planning due diligence on the preferred sites for our new hospital.”

The director added that while developing the new hospital, they were continuing with ‘extensive Raac maintenance programme to keep our hospital, patients and staff safe’.

Frimley Health Trust bosses said in March that they spend £6 million a year on keeping the hospital safe.

The hospital was built ‘substantially’ with Raac 50 years ago, which has a lifespan of between just 30-40 years.

Nigel Forster from Frimley NHS Foundation Health Trust said it was something bosses had ‘known about for many years’.

This comes a year on from the nationwide Raac scandal, which exposed hundreds of schools across the country that were built with the crumbling concrete.

110 out of 234 identified schools and colleges in England to contain the concrete by the government were set to receive grants to remove the Raac from their sites.

Other public buildings including hospitals, libraries and theatres have also been found to be in danger.

Bracknell Forest Councillors are set to receive an update on the progress of the New Frimley Park Hospital at the upcoming Health and Wellbeing board on Tuesday, September 10. However, representatives from the trust will not give any information about the preferred sites for relocation.