15.04.15
New ‘super hospital’ under consideration for Surrey and south London
Trust chiefs are considering closing two hospitals in south London and Surrey and replacing them with a new 800-bed ‘super hospital’.
The plan was revealed by management consultants hired to look at options for the future of the estate of Epsom and St Helier’s University Hospitals Trust. The consultants were overheard discussing the matter by a BBC reporter during a conference call on a busy commuter train.
The future of the two hospitals has been under discussion for at least 10 years with a planned £219m redevelopment of St Helier cancelled last year. Plans to merge Epsom with Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals in Surrey were halted in 2012 and both hospitals were part of the Better Services Better Value review of NHS services in south-west London, which was halted in February 2014.
A number of options are understood to be being discussed between the consultancy firm and the trust’s chief executive, Daniel Elkeles. The new “super hospital for the area" on the former Sutton Hospital site is considered one of the preferred options.
Two other possibilities were mentioned, building a new hospital at St Helier and rebuilding Epsom Hospital.
Elkeles has previously stated that the trust plans to retain both sites for at least the next five years and in a new statement the trust reaffirmed that pledge.
However it added that the trust needs to plan for the longer term but any of these changes would be 10-20 years in the future.
Elkeles said: “The trust board has always been very open that it is committed to retaining both hospitals for at least the next five years – and that remains the case.
“At the same time it is right that longer term planning should start now to tackle the serious problems facing local services and local NHS buildings, many of which were built in the 1930s and mean patients are being treated in inadequate conditions.
“However this is a long term plan and any of the options being looked at here are many years away from being implemented and will need a lot more discussion, agreement and consultation before they happen.”
The review of the trusts estate is being funded by Surrey Downs CCG, Sutton CCG and the trust, and a spokesperson for NHS Sutton CCG stressed that the current sites need “significant improvement”.
The spokesperson added: “However, the trust has not got to the point where they have discussed with us, as their local commissioners, the results of their review or any proposals arising from it. Of course, any proposed future developments would need to be considered in line with the South West London CCGs' strategy for health services in south west London."
(Image: St Helier Hospital. Source: Stephen Richards)
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