In our December issue we raised concerns about the lack of information about the new specialist emergency care hospital planned to be built in Sutton. Residents will recall that the updating of Epsom and St Helier hospitals has been debated for decades and it was good news when the Government announced a major investment in a new hospital for the area as well as additional improvements to the existing hospitals.
In June 2021 the Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust said, “ The new hospital will be one of 40 under the Government’s New Hospital Programme and is one of six in the first phase of the programme, benefiting from £2.7 billion of funding from 2020 to 2025. The plans will also see at least £80 million spent across both Epsom and St Helier hospitals”.
Since then all has gone quiet, despite requests for an update from the Trust, raising concerns that, yet again, the plans for the new hospital in the area will again be delayed or stopped.
We asked the Trust to respond to the following questions:
1. Is the £511 million budget still intact?
2. If not, what cuts have been made?
3. Building costs are rising fast; what impact has this had on the project?
4. Have plans for the building been finalised?
5. When will a planning application be started?
6. The management teams of E&SH and St George’s have been merged, is the Trust also to be merged?
Just before publication we received the following reply:
“The Building Your Future Hospitals programme – building a brand new Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Sutton and significantly improving Epsom and St Helier hospitals – is backed by Government and represents the biggest investment in healthcare in our region for a generation.
We submitted our Outline Business Case to New Hospital Programme (part of the Department of Health and Social Care) last year, and are waiting for feedback and confirmation of next steps. Once we receive this, we will be able to reaffirm our programme delivery timelines, including our planning application submission. In the meantime, we continue to move forward with our plans, including developing new ways of working and estates development at Epsom and St Helier hospitals. For example, we are putting the final touches on our new link bridge, linking the main hospital building with Langley Wing, at Epsom.
As you have noted, there have been some changes on who runs our hospitals. In August, Epsom and St Helier and St George’s hospitals became a group and Jacqueline Totterdell was appointed as the Group CEO of both trusts. We have shared a chairman, Gillian Norton, since October 2019. Epsom and St Helier and St George’s hospitals remain two separate trusts, but with one Group executive team enabling us to work closer together and build on our strong foundations. Having one group executive team allows for more joined-up decision making, a larger and more resilient clinical workforce and more access to a wider range of services for patients.
The Epsom and St Helier senior leadership team, led by Managing Director James Blythe, will be responsible for the operational management of Epsom and St Helier hospitals and continuing development of the Building Your Future Hospitals programme and other strategic priorities for the Trust. The new Group executive and senior leadership teams take effect from 1 February 2022.
Both our organisations remain committed to the strong partnerships built with local health and care systems in Merton, Wandsworth, Surrey and Sutton and wider strategic partnerships with Integrated Care Systems in South West London and Surrey Heartlands.
As a group, we will collaborate more closely on research, staff development, education and training, which will continue to make a vital contribution to the quality and sustainability of clinical care into the future.”
This looks like good news, in that the budget is still intact. but clearly there must be concerns about increased costs undermining the original plans. But there has been no response yet to the Trust’s Outline Business Case and no idea when this will be forthcoming.
How long is it going to take for Central Government to approve these proposals and for physical work on the project to start? The original plan was for the hospital to open in 2025/26 but, so far, there is still no planning application in place.
We have asked Chris Grayling, our MP, to question the Health Secretary about when this approval is likely to be given and he has confirmed that he has tabled a written question to the Department of Health.
We will keep you informed.
We were also concerned about the merger of our local Trust’s management team with St George’s. Looking at the appointees to the new team it looked like a St George’s takeover. We don’t want our local needs diluted within a much larger organisation and will follow developments with interest. Again we will keep you informed.
