Today Secretary of State for Health Steve Barclay MP has announced in the House of Commons Chamber that the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded funding to work up plans to build a new hospital to replace the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.
This Hospital 2.0 will ensure we have a purpose-built state of the art hospital in Lancaster, which is something that David Morris MP has been working on since 2019 when he secured seed funding to work up a business case for a new hospital. This Hospital will be in cohort 4 of the new hospitals programme and will be completed shortly after 2030.
David Morris MP:
‘Today’s decision is absolutely huge for the whole population in North Lancashire, we are getting a brand new state of the art hospital. Personally, this has been a huge achievement as it has been such a long time coming. From ensuring the RLI secured seed funding in 2019 to lobbying ministers constantly to ensure our favoured option of a new hospital in Lancaster was given the green light.
Today’s decision is also vindication for the management of the Trust who decided that a joint bid with Preston would make a stronger case and even in the face of public criticism that said they wanted to close both Preston and Lancaster and create one super hospital, which was never the plan.
A new hospital is not just lifechanging for patients across our area but will be a great morale boost for our fantastic RLI staff who work so hard to provide outstanding care, in what is now an extremely old and not fit for purpose building. A new hospital allows them to shine, and continue to provide outstanding care for the next generation.
The hard work now begins with the Trust receiving funding to work up plans for the new hospital which will be in cohort 4 of the new hospitals programme.’
NB
The current Royal Lancaster Infirmary will continue to operate fully until the new hospital is built ready to change over, and the staff will move over and still be employed on the new site.
