Building our Future Hospital
Hinchingbrooke Hospital was built in 1983 and is one of four hospitals in the East of England affected by structural issues relating to the concrete panels used in the construction of some of the walls and roof. These panels, called Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (or RAAC for short) were reviewed in a site-wide survey carried out by structural engineers when the issue first came to light. Remedial actions were taken where any faults were detected to ensure our buildings were safe to be used.
To ensure we keep a very close eye on the issue, our Estates and Facilities team are working on an ongoing rolling programme across the affected areas of the hospital site to ensure that we can be aware of any faults as soon as they arise, implement safety measures and carry out remedial works.
Patients and visitors may have noticed that we have some construction work at the rear of our hospital site. This is to build our long-awaited Main Theatres block which will house seven state-of-the-art operating theatres and Pharmacy and Pathology services.
Arshiya Khan, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, said: “As well as our ongoing estates work, and the redevelopment of our Theatres Block, we are looking to the future in Phase 3 of our exciting redevelopment programme. This is dedicated to building a new hospital on our site by 2030. We have already been working with architects on what a new hospital will look like and have been holding workshops with our staff to gather their expert view on what we need to best care for patients and how departments will link to provide a seamless patient journey. It has been great to work together to provide a hospital which will not only be a great place to work, but also provide the best facilities for our patients in the future.”
We have three Clinical Leads who are supporting work on service improvement and transformation as part of the redevelopment plans for Hinchingbrooke. The Cambridgeshire Integrated Care System (ICS) has recently been co-opted onto the newly formed Hinchingbrooke Hospital Redevelopment Programme Board, chaired by one of the Trust's Non-Executive Directors.
Huntingdonshire District Council is working with the Trust on strategic planning assumptions underpinning the Hinchingbrooke redevelopment proposals and will support the Trust through the various stages of planning approval as it did with the Main Theatres scheme.
The Trust has also been working closely with the New Hospital Programme (NHP) pending a national decision on funding for the RAAC hospitals which currently have no long term funding solution. The Trust has submitted an expression of interest for funding of enabling works to prepare the Hinchingbrooke site for redevelopment. Discussions are taking place with partner organisations to consider the potential for a new horizontal access road, which will help ease congestion in the roads in the immediate vicinity of the hospital and will benefit flow around the site.
As work continues we will be holding engagement events for the public to attend, which will provide you with the opportunity to ask questions and input ideas on what our future Hinchingbrooke Hospital will looks like. Details on these events will be communicated to the public via the media and on our social media channels. Alternatively if you would like to ask the Projects Team a question then please email them via nwangliaft.trustprojects@nhs.net
