MP welcomes new hospital plans for Lancaster

It was announced on Monday that following on from the unveiling of the shortlist of proposals for new hospital facilities in March, the Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme team have decided their preferred option for the Royal Lancaster Infirmary is a new state-of-the-art hospital on a new site, which could be up to a 10 mile radius away from the current site.

Ms Smith said: "The news that the preferred option from NHS in Lancashire and South Cumbria for new hospitals on new sites for both Royal Preston Hospital and Royal Lancaster Infirmary as part of the New Hospitals Programme is good news for Lancaster residents and the staff who work in our NHS.

“Lancaster needs a state-of-the-art hospital with modern facilities and improved access to healthcare in the community. I am happy that they listened to myself and local Labour councillors like Lizzi Collinge when we were clear residents did not want one 'super hospital' to serve both Preston and Lancaster, as was on the original longlist of options.

“The current RLI buildings are falling apart and it also suffers horrendous traffic and parking issues which spill over into local residential areas.

“I will be now working hard to ensure the new Lancaster site will be accessible to everyone, including public transport users, and that they support a move to zero-carbon healthcare.

“In Westminster I’ll be pushing the Treasury to make a financial commitment to fund these plans, the programme having been subjected to multiple delays in getting a concrete financial settlement.”

The other permutations - partial rebuilds of both facilities in their current locations or one of either Preston or Lancaster getting a new hospital and the other city’s service being partially rebuilt where it now stands - remain on the table. No final decisions - either locally or by the health service nationally - have yet been taken.

However, the region will make a pitch for replacements for the two existing hospitals, whose ageing estates have maintenance backlogs estimated at £157m for RPH and £88m for the RLI.