The long-awaited and desperately needed rebuild of a 'crumbling' Frimley Park Hospital will go ahead, officials have confirmed.
The Department of Health and Social Care have announced today (September 20) that the Surrey-based hospital will be delivered by the new government.
Frimley Park is made up of two-thirds crumbling concrete, known as Raac, which has given it priority to be delivered.
This comes after Labour announced it would review the programme it is part of, the Conservatives New Hospitals Plan, to address a £22 billion ‘black hole’ in its finances.
Funding for the hospital was originally secured by James Sunderland, the former Conservative MP for Bracknell.
Now, Frimley Park Hospital has been removed from the review currently being carried out by the Treasury, which will decide the fate of 40 hospitals promised by 2030 by the former government.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Frimley Park will not be included in the review of the New Hospitals programme; we recognise that hospitals made primarily from Raac are a priority to ensure patient and staff safety.”
Bracknell MP Peter Swallow said: “I welcome today’s announcement that recognises that Frimley, built primarily with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), needs to be replaced urgently to protect patient and staff safety.
“I look forward to hearing more about Frimley ICB’s next steps, including the location of a new site. I will continue to campaign to get Frimley rebuilt, working with a Labour government to get this done as soon as possible.”
Mr Streeting praised Peter Swallow as a ‘tireless campaigner’ who has ‘made a strong case for this hospital to be a priority’.
The Secretary of State continued: “We are working at pace because I recognise how important it is that we commit to a realistic timetable and commit to a realistic timetable to complete this scheme and deliver the healthcare facility local people need and deserve.”
Mr Swallow, who was elected as Bracknell Forest’s first ever Labour MP in July, said that Frimley Park is ‘a testament to how the Conservatives left the NHS: crumbling’.
The MP continued: “Bracknell Forest desperately needs a new hospital but we also need honesty over how a new hospital will be funded, where it will be located and when we can expect it to be completed.”
He had previously criticised the NHS trust in charge of the relocation project as lacking a ‘sense of urgency’ from their decision-making process.
Bosses are yet to publicly identify a site as the situation remains ‘commercially sensitive’.
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