Government responds to petition for second general hospital with A&E in Cornwall
Over 13,600 have signed it so far
Last updated 10th Sep 2021
The Government has responded to a petition calling for a second general hospital with an A&E department to be built in Cornwall.
The petition was launched earlier this summer and has already gained over 13,600 signatures.
It's asking the Government to "level up" Cornwall after a significant growth in population has overwhelmed the existing public service infrastructure including the NHS.
If the petition gains over 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.
It comes at Royal Cornwall Hospitals continues to face extremely high demand, having been in-and-out of so-called 'black alert' since Covid restrictions eased in May.
Bosses at Treliske have also confirmed that the hospital spent the whole of the school summer holidays on the highest alert level, also known as Opel 4.
Now the Government has responded to the petition, and has said trusts can submit interest in possible sites for eight new hospitals to be built across the country.
In response to the petition the Department of Health and Social care said: "Our Health Infrastructure Plan, first published in September 2019, is a strategic long-term investment to ensure our world-class healthcare system and staff have the world-class facilities needed for the future.
"We have committed to build 40 new hospitals by 2030, backed by an initial £3.7 billion. Together with eight existing schemes, this will mean 48 hospitals by the end of the decade, the biggest hospital building programme in a generation.
"The 48 hospitals we will build, in addition to the 20 upgrades to hospitals already promised, together represent investment in infrastructure across the whole country, another example of this Government’s mission to level up.
"These commitments will result in outdated infrastructure being replaced by facilities for both staff and patients that are the cutting edge of modern technology, innovation and sustainability, driving excellence in patient care.
"Currently, the national programme comprises 8 pre-existing schemes and 40 new hospitals, totalling 48 hospitals. In October 2020, the government named 32 hospitals which will form part of the 40 new hospitals and is now calling for NHS trusts to submit their expressions of interest to be one of the next 8 hospitals.
"Expressions of interest are invited from all NHS trusts in England who would like their plans to be considered.
"This is the first of a two-stage selection process. It will be followed by a more detailed process for long-listed schemes later in the year. We aim to make a final decision in spring 2022."
The selection process will prioritise plans for:
- services which transform joined up care for people and provide an effective working environment for NHS staff, in line with the ambitions of the NHS Long Term Plan.
- fair allocations of investment to level up across regions and provide value for money
- stronger and greener NHS buildings that make the most of modern methods of construction to support sustainable, greener and efficient design.
All the new hospitals will benefit from being part of the Government’s nationally led programme under the Health Infrastructure Plan, ensuring the programme delivers value for money for use of the limited national public funding envelope available.
Experience will be shared across the schemes in the programme so they can be built as quickly as possible while prioritising standardisation, digital technology, sustainability and modern methods of construction.
This selection process will also inform the ongoing pipeline of investment through this programme, subject to future funding settlements.
More broadly, the Government has provided recent wider investment in the Cornwall area, which includes:
- A new Women’s and Children’s Hospital, in the centre of the Royal Cornwall Hospital site in Truro, which will be one of the 40 new hospitals to be built by 2030.
- Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT) received £2.8 million as part of our £450 million of A&E upgrades. From this funding, Royal Cornwall Hospital doubled the size of its resus in order to safely manage both expected service demand and improve the efficiency of patient flow.
- RCHT received £1.726 million from our £600 million Critical Infrastructure Risk fund to tackle backlog maintenance.
- RCHT ordered one CT scanner in 2019-20 as part of our replacement of diagnostics machines more than 10 years old.
- Oncology & MRI Re-provision (Clinical Site Development Plan Phase 2): The project is now one of the 20 Upgrades Schemes. RCHT received central capital funding of £31.32 million to make improvements to the Oncology/Haematology Ward and the MRI Department. The construction end date is currently scheduled for December 2022.
- RCHT Peripheral Site Optimisation: The Trust received £9.1million to improve clinical facilities and eradicate backlog maintenance.
You can find a link to sign the petition here.