Today, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care made a statement to Parliament on the New Hospitals Programme, pledging £20 billion and confirming that all Cohort 3 schemes - of which Leicester is one - are funded and able to proceed.
Responding to the announcement, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust Chief Executive, Richard Mitchell, said: ‘The announcement today of extra investment in the NHS New Hospitals Programme is great news for the people of Leicester, Leicestershire, Rutland and the wider East Midlands.
'The investment will help us deliver new facilities by 2030, including a women’s hospital and a dedicated children's hospital. We know that modern, digitally enabled services will support world-class health care, research and education. The investment will also mean we can attract and retain the best possible people.
'It builds on the £163m of investment already made in our hospitals over the last five years. This includes the new East Midlands Planned Care Centre (EMPCC) at the Leicester General, which opens next month and will treat 100,000 per year once fully operational.
'We are proud to work in Leicester, the largest and fastest growing city in the East Midlands and the first plural city in the UK, where there is no single ethnic majority. The people of Leicester deserve the best possible healthcare and today’s announcement will help us achieve this ambition.
'We will now work with colleagues from the NHS, Local Authority, Universities and beyond to finalise plans, complete the business cases and start the process of construction and commissioning.’
Andy Williams, Chief Executive of the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board said: “The extra investment in the NHS New Hospitals Programme is great news for the people of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and surrounding areas.
“Working with our patients on our plans has been key and we received strong public support for our proposals when we reached out to our local communities during a public consultation. We are confident that our patients will be just as excited as we are, about these aspirations becoming reality for the local population and future generations.
“The funding will enable us to provide first-class healthcare services to meet the changing needs of our diverse communities, improve the quality of care provided, enhance the patient experience and support the NHS to work more efficiently across health and care.”
