South Shropshire MP, Philip Dunne, has visited the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to see first-hand the progress being made through the Hospitals Transformation Programme (HTP).
Mr Dunne was instrumental in securing the £312m investment to deliver the HTP, which will transform acute hospital services and improve health and care for communities across Shropshire, the wider Marches and into Wales.
Mr Dunne met Louise Barnett, Chief Executive of SaTH and was shown around the site by Dr Ed Rysdale, Emergency Medicine Consultant and HTP Clinical Lead and Matthew Neal, Director of HTP from SaTH with contractors undertaking the enabling works.
This reconfiguration project will make the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital a site specialising in emergency care and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford a site specialising in planned care with both sites providing 24-hour urgent care services, diagnostics, outpatient clinics, frail and elderly care services, and day case chemotherapy.
The construction at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital through the HTP also complements works to prepare the new Planned Care Hub at the Princess Royal Hospital, which will consist of four modern operating theatres and additional recovery beds, will enable more than 3,500 additional day case procedures to be undertaken per year.
Backed by a £24m investment, construction work is continuing on the new two-storey hub, which will support patients across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and mid Wales to receive high quality elective care all year round. Building work has taken longer than expected due to complex issues discovered during construction, but the first operations are due to take place in June.
Mr Dunne said:
“I was very pleased to see for myself the enabling works well underway at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital this week. This is a complex project, building adjacent to an existing very busy hospital without disturbing the vital clinical work going on every day.
“So I was encouraged to see rapid progress is being made, with teams experienced in managing clinical services, including A&E, while erecting new facilities on adjacent space. The project managers are well prepared to enable full mobilisation on the site once the final investment approvals are received from NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care and HM Treasury to deliver the Hospitals Transformation Programme.
“The submission of the Final Business Case (FBC) is the final stage of the approval process for the programme. The FBC includes contractual arrangements with a view to commencement of the main building contract this summer, expected to take three years to complete. Integrated Health Partnerships (IHP) (a Joint Venture between VINCI Building and Sir Robert McAlpine) have been appointed as the design and construction partner and at its peak the construction element is expected to employ 400 skilled building contractors and tradesmen as part of the build. The work is expected to benefit SMEs from Shropshire and the surrounding area who will be employed to undertake this biggest hospital building project in Shropshire in generations to renew our acute hospitals in Shrewsbury and Telford.
“After so many delays in approving this NHS plan, not helped by some seeking to obfuscate the project for political reasons, it is heartening to begin to see this £312m improvement in local healthcare come to fruition.
“While I am stepping down at the next General Election, the positive impact of this project on healthcare in the county will last for many years. So I am determined to give all the support I can in the time I have remaining, to deliver better health outcomes for people in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, and mid Wales.”
Photo: Dr Ed Rysdale, Gordon McCartin (IHP), Ralph Conoway (Gleeds), and Philip Dunne MP
