Work to replace QEH 'must start within 3 years' or West Norfolk could be without hospital
The number of support props at the QEH has increased to over 2,400
Last updated 6th Oct 2022
Work to replace the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn needs to start within the next three years according to staff.
Hospital bosses in West Norfolk are in a race against time to keep the hospital open.
The QEH was built in King's Lynn and is expected to last until 2030 at the latest.
It's built of lightweight concrete which is slowly crumbling. The structure was only expected to last 30 years.
The number of support props holding up the roof has now increased to over 2,400 and will climb by another thousand in the coming months, as more safety work is carried out.
This work is part of the QEH's rolling 3-year failsafe programme and the rise means that the nearly 50-year-old estate has more props in place than any other in the country.
The hospital also now has over four times more props than beds for patients.
"The number of props will increase again"
Nichola Hunter is the Acting Director of Estates and Facilities at QEH.
She told us about upcoming additional safety work:
“The number of props will increase again to 3,397 when work is completed in Windsor Ward over the coming months. Both wards will then become the two main decant wards as our rolling programme to install failsafes across the whole of the first floor of the hospital progresses.
"When you know that we've got to put a lot of these props and steelwork in place across the whole of the first floor, we have to move patients from a ward to a temporary location and doing the upcoming work will take us three months to complete".
"We are really, really positive and hopeful, but we have been waiting a long time"
Ms Hunter told us time is running out and action is needed now, as props and supports can only do so much:
"By 2025 we need to have put in the first spade into the land, to be able to construct a new building at that time for it to be complete by the latter part of 2029.
"There is a lot of planning work that has to go into building new hospitals, so the longer it takes the less time we are going to have to be able to plan and to make sure we have the right hospital for the future".
"We have been advised that this hospital has a life until 2030 and we have been told that even with the steel and wood props it doesn't pro-long the life of the hospital. All it does is reinforce the structure to keep it safe now, but it doesn't take it beyond the 2030 deadline".
"We are really, really positive and hopeful, about making the funding list, but we have been waiting a long time for this decision. We are doing all we can.
"We are not only making sure that we are keeping our patients and staff up to date with our plans, but we are also putting all our enabling works that are needed to start a new hospital, in place. Last week and through-out September we held a number of consultations".
Has the new Government been in touch?
Last week the new Prime Minister Liz Truss wasn't able to say whether the hospital would be replaced.
Ms Hunter told us: "Our Chief and Deputy Chief Executive have written to both Thérèse Coffey and Liz Truss to invite them to come to the hospital. It's not until you see the estate that you realise the depth of the serious problems that we face here".
The Health Secretary, Thérèse Coffey has said that she will visit the estate in 'weeks'.