NHS bosses have said they are ‘unable to give a definitive timeline’ for when potential sites for the new Frimley Hospital will be revealed.

Frimley Hospital in Surrey was set to be relocated and rebuilt under the former conservative government’s New Hospitals programme, which promised to deliver 40 new hospitals across the country by 2030.

The building is made up of two thirds crumbling concrete, known as Raac, making the need for relocation urgent.

However, plans were recently put in jeopardy when the Labour government announced it would put the programme under review due to a £22m ‘black hole’ left in its finances.

More details on when the new site could be revealed have been given by the NHS Frimley Trust at a recent Bracknell Forest Council Health and Wellbeing Board.

The Trust has completed the first few stages of the selection process. This began with engaging with a land agent to look up possible sites, of which a number of factors were considered.

Criteria included whether the site was large enough to fit the 130,000 metres squared site, whether it could reasonably be delivered by 2030. A five-mile radius to the current site was also applied. This then produced a smaller list, which have now been subject to confidential pre-application discussions with relevant local authorities. Once these are complete, bosses will formally apply for planning permission.

Member Andrew Hunter asked the interim programme director of the project, Cain Thomas, about when these applications will go live – and the preferred sites will subsequently be revealed.

But Cain Thomas said: “We have an indicative timeline, but at this moment in time first and foremost we have to conclude the site selection process, and we have to do that as soon as we can.

“We’re unable to give a definitive timeline at this moment in time when we will conclude the site selection process.”

The new hospital is expected to cost more than £1 billion, and will be twice the size of the existing site.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that hospitals with Raac – of which there are seven included in the new hospitals programme – must be focused on by the government.

With this, NHS bosses assured members that Frimley ‘remains an absolute priority’, despite uncertainty surrounding the upcoming review.

Alongside choosing a new site, NHS Frimley Trust are undertaking a ‘significant and extensive programme of work’ on areas of the hospital with Raac.

While around £30 million has already been spent doing this, the director confirmed that ‘there will still be a significant capital spend’ on removing the concrete.