Mixed fortunes for region's hospitals - as Government pushes some work back by a decade
The incoming Labour Government has announced the timetable for when hospital upgrades will start
Last updated 21st Jan 2025
A planned £350-million pound rebuild of Torbay hospital has been delayed for up to a decade - with campaigners telling us they feel angry and let down.
It had been pledged under the previous Tory government but was last night delayed for a decade by the incoming Labour administration - as the Health Secretary warned that building the 40 new hospitals promised by the previous government will take at least a decade longer than planned.
Plymouth’s Derriford is getting a new A and E department in wave one of the scheme - whilst construction on North Devon District Hospital won't begin until 2035 at the earliest and major continued work at Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital may not begin being until 2030.
The Trust that runs the Royal Cornwall Hospital says it's "absolutely delighted" that a new Women and Children's Hospital for the county has been given the green light in the first wave.
What has been the reaction in Torbay?
In recent years, Torbay Hospital has seen a new Acute Medical Unit, Endoscopy Suite and Day Surgery Unit. Former Tory MY for Torbay Kevin Foster said: "An announcement last week of funding to rebuild Torbay Hospital’s Emergency Department was welcomed locally, but local campaigners are making clear it is no substitute for the urgent and much needed rebuild.
"News Torbay Hospital's rebuild might not even start until 2035, is a shock and a blow to our bay. It is hard to see how the urgent need to replace buildings dating back to the 1920s at Torbay Hospital, the 3rd oldest in the NHS still in daily use, did not see it placed higher on Labour's priority list, with a rebuild now unlikely to be completed before the mid-late 2030s, if at all."
“Before the election Labour and the Lib Dems dismissed any suggestions plans for our hospital rebuild would be threatened by a change of Government. Today Ministers have kicked the plan into not just the next parliament, but the one after that!
What has been the reaction in Plymouth?
Fred Thomas MP, Member of Parliament for Plymouth Moor View, said: “Ever since I was elected as your MP, I’ve been fighting hard for a new emergency department at Derriford.
"I know how much people rely on Derriford, and how hard the staff work in challenging circumstances. I’m thrilled that the Government have listened to us and decided to give Derriford the new A&E it needs. I will continue working with the Government to make sure this is delivered as quickly as possible”.
Luke Pollard MP, Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said: “This is excellent news for Plymouth. I have fought tooth and nail for a new emergency department at Derriford since I was elected. The Conservatives left the future of Derriford up in the air. Unforgivably, they promised us an emergency department without setting aside the money to build it.
“On behalf of staff and patients, I am delighted that we are in wave one of the government’s hospital programme and have the green light to get on with construction.”
Wes Streeting, Labour’s Secretary of State for Health and Social Care said: “Since the election, Fred Thomas and Luke Pollard have been banging the drum day and night for Derriford.
“The New Hospital Programme we inherited was unfunded and undeliverable. Not a single new hospital was built in the past five years, and there was no credible plan to build forty in the next five years.
“When I walked into the Department of Health and Social Care, I was told that the funding for the New Hospitals Programme runs out in March. We were determined to put the programme on a firm footing, so we can build the new hospitals our NHS needs.
“Today we are setting out an honest, funded, and deliverable programme to rebuild our NHS. I am committed to delivering a new Emergency Department at Derriford and to rebuilding our NHS.”
What has been the reaction in Cornwall?
What has been the reaction in Somerset?
Peter Lewis, chief executive of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“We estimate that our programme has been further delayed by at least another five years as a result of the review of the New Hospitals Programme. We further estimate that the build will take approximately seven years, and the whole programme will not be complete before 2040. Development of our NHP programme will now pause until 2030/1 and construction will not begin until 2033 - 2035.
“This is bitterly disappointing for the patients and families we care for and for the colleagues who work in some buildings that are nearly 80 years old and not fit for a modern NHS.
“Parts of Musgrove Park Hospital were built in the 1940s. The roofs leak, the services infrastructure is woeful and needs significant upgrade, and we have concerns about our ability to keep those areas running and provide clinical services to vulnerable patients from them. The Care Quality Commission described the impact that our outdated maternity unit has on the privacy and dignity of the mothers, babies and families we care for.
“This delay is a bitter blow. Our New Hospitals Programme is planned to replace our outdated women’s (including maternity), children’s and elective surgical facilities, and to expand urgent and emergency care.
“We will now spend some time reviewing what this delay means, and how we manage the parts of our hospital that are not fit for purpose for approximately 15 years before we are able to complete the build programme.”
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