Bradford hospitals could be combined on one site
They also include Europe’s first carbon-neutral hospital and a mental health hospital replacing a Victorian-era building.The joint bid asking for over £1.7billion in funding has been submitted by the Act as One health and care partnership that covers Bradford District and Craven, serving a population of more than 647,000 people.
In summary the plans would see the following:
- Rebuilding Airedale Hospital on its current site with the ambition of creating Europe’s first carbon neutral hospital. The current building is over 60 years old making it difficult to deliver digitally enabled care and is not suited to meet carbon neutral goals.
- Rebuilding Lynfield Mount to develop a new acute inpatient facility that integrates mental health and neurodiversity within our community. This would focus on redeveloping the centrally located main block at Lynfield Mount. The hospital would take a ‘health campus’ approach to deliver wider services working with partners to continue our efforts to tackle stigma and to support our live well approach.
- Replacing Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke’s Hospital with a single site purpose built hospital. The new hospital forms part of Bradford Council’s Core Strategy which sets out the strategic direction to create a sustainable future for the district, which has a young and growing population. This, coupled with the Trust’s ageing estate and high maintenance costs, drives the need for strategic healthcare planning and exploring options to secure funding for future large-scale development.
The combined bid is in addition to three individual proposals submitted by Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The proposals are being backed by NHS Bradford District and Craven Clinical Commissioning Group, Bradford Council and the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership.
The bid links to broad-ranging plans that are considering how other buildings and community assets – such as health centres, GP surgeries and community centres - can help deliver health, care and wellbeing services to meet future needs.
Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council, said: “We are excited by the proposal being submitted for three new hospitals that would revolutionise the way we deliver health and care while also contributing to our wider regeneration and recovery plans.”
Helen Hirst, Chief Officer for NHS Bradford District and Craven CCG, said: “Our plans would radically transform health and care services for our communities, contribute to the wider economic recovery plans, encourage inward investment, attract and retain the best talent and build on wider regeneration plans both for Bradford District and Craven and our wider region. They would also allow us to positively contribute to carbon zero or carbon neutral ambitions.”
Mel Pickup, Chief Executive for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We want to create modern health and care facilities that support our people and our citizens by securing safe, efficient and fit for purpose hospitals and healthcare for generations to come. We are excited by the opportunity that could be presented to us to really transform the way care is provided for our patients and their families.”
The three hospitals would be developed as part of a phased programme starting with Lynfield Mount, Airedale Hospital and a new single-site solution combining St Luke’s Hospital and Bradford Royal Infirmary services on one site.The Government’s New Hospitals Programme has already announced 32 new build projects. It is now considering the latest expressions of interest for a further eight projects.
A final decision on the eight new hospital schemes is expected to be announced by the Government in spring 2022.
Read more from Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
