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A NEW BUILD for Royal Berkshire Hospital is set to begin in 2025 at the earliest, according to hospital trust chiefs.
After securing a share of the £3.7 billion government programme, the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust outlined its plans for a new hospital at Reading’s Health and Wellbeing Board on Friday, October 8.
As reported by Wokingham.Today in October last year, the Trust shared its initial idea for the rebuild, which had been confirmed by the prime minister.
To read the original story, visit wokingham.today/trust-plans-new-royal-berkshire-hospital/
It is one of 48 hospital trusts across the country, which will receive funding to rebuild or construct new hospitals.
Alison Foster, programme director at the trust, revealed the current hospital needs maintenance work totalling almost £200 million, along with the need for more clinical space, transport issues, and a desire to go carbon net zero.
The redevelopment will include an e{{{gallery:”95752″}}}mergency care block, an elective centre for planned hospital care, a new women’s and children’s facility and a local medical school.
The trust is now working on an outline business case, including various potential new locations, before reducing it down to a shortlist and then making a decision on which option to go for, with the aim of getting the best value for money.
Ms Foster said the treasury will have the final say on which plans go ahead but the trust would “pull the information together to help make that decision and make a case for what is best for the needs of the population”.
She added: “We will put forward proposals that are good value for money.
“But it is still within the gift of the treasury to say we only have £200 million and that is all we can give you.”
The Government has not yet announced how much funding the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust will get for a new hospital.
While work to construct a new hospital will not start until 2025 at the earliest, work to improve accessibility at the hospital will not have to wait.
Ramona Bridgman, chairwoman of the Reading Families Forum, who earlier this year raised concerns about accessibility, asked what plans there are to improve this issue.
Ms Foster responded: “If we got the go-ahead tomorrow for funding to build a new hospital, we know if it was a hospital off-site, it’s probably going to take the best part of four or five years minimum, probably a lot longer.
“We can’t wait that long to make improvements to what we’ve already got.”
She said a series of proposals to improve accessibility would be considered in December by the trust’s estates committee.
On the target of going net zero carbon by 2045, which would include staff travel to and from the hospital but not patient transport, Ms Foster said it would be a struggle if the new hospital is built at the current site.
