New Women and Children’s Hospital for Cornwall in 2028
Construction of the new Women and Children’s Hospital will go ahead. This follows confirmation by the Secretary of State for Health, on 25th May 2023, that all New Hospital Programme “Cohort 2” schemes can proceed. Today, we’re unveiling a computer-generated 3D film of how the new Women and Children’s Hospital could look when built. The new Women and Children’s Hospital will become the new Main Entrance for the Royal Cornwall Hospital once construction is finished in 2028.
A major milestone for the Royal Cornwall Hospital
The Government announcement is a major milestone on RCHT’s long journey towards delivering a modern, state-of-the-art Women and Children’s Hospital for the people of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. RCHT will now work with its principal supply chain partner (PSCP), BAM Construction Ltd, to develop the Full Business Case for the programme. This should be ready for HM Treasury sign off by the end 2024, with main construction works due to commence in 2025.
The new Women and Children’s Hospital will bring together services for women and children in one dedicated building. These include maternity services, neonatal care, paediatric care, and obstetric and gynaecology services. The new hospital is being built where the Link Corridor is currently located. It will connect to both the Tower Block and Trelawny Wing at the Royal Cornwall Hospital.
Key features for care will include:
- consultant and midwife-led birthing suites
- a more spacious neonatal intensive care unit
- transitional care facilities with family rooms
- a dedicated day assessment unit for maternity patients
Bringing services together
Services will be more appropriately located together. For example, there will be dedicated operating theatres supporting paediatric and gynaecological surgery, which will be located next to the existing main theatres in Trelawny Wing. A dedicated paediatric assessment unit will also be located on the ground floor, closer to the existing paediatric emergency department. These changes will significantly improve the patients’ experiences. They will also make it easier for clinical staff to work together more effectively in a multi-disciplinary team.
A new main entrance
The new main entrance for the Royal Cornwall Hospital will be provided in a light and airy atrium which will include a staffed reception desk. There will also be:
- self-service check-in kiosks with digitally-enabled wayfinding
- a large retail pharmacy outlet
- a new café
- wheelchair and buggy storage
- patient toilets and family rooms including a “Changing Places Facility”
- quiet rooms for baby change and feeding
Early works underway
The £291 million full programme of work includes several enabling projects. The most significant project is the construction of a new pathology building to the west of the existing Trelawny Wing. To support the new Women and Children’s Hospital, and the general development of the overall hospital site into the future, an increase in electrical capacity will be provided via an additional main power supply cable. Other enabling works include the relocation of the existing services out of the Link Corridor and the re-provision of car parking spaces impacted by the building works. These enabling works projects will need to be completed before construction commences on the main Women and Children’s Hospital.
Some early work has started, with the demolition of six decommissioned houses on Penventinnie Lane. This area will become the construction site compound to support BAM during the main construction phase. Work has also started on re-providing the car parking spaces. The relocation of the clinical services out of the Link Corridor will be complete during 2024.
Ambitious plans, exciting times
Steve Williamson, RCHT Chief Executive Officer said: “Confirmation from the Secretary of State for Health that we can proceed is brilliant news. It is testimony to the hard work, passion and commitment to providing outstanding care on the part of everyone involved in the scheme.
“It is easy to forget this Women and Children’s Hospital Programme was first conceived over five years ago as a direct and limited reprovision of the maternity services housed in the Princess Alexandra Wing,” Steve continued. “Plans were then developed further and expanded to include the co-location of paediatric services, and obstetrics and gynaecology theatres to transform our hospital site and optimise women and children’s services, with funding from the national New Hospital Programme (NHP). The current plan for our new Women and Children’s Hospital is ambitious in order to meet our vision of providing outstanding care for the people of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. It is a great stride forward in our journey towards transforming and redeveloping the NHS estate in Cornwall in support of the delivery of optimal clinical services.”
Partnership approach
Roberta Fuller, Programme Director for the Women and Children’s Hospital at the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust said: “Our project delivery team here at RCHT comprises the clinical teams within the Women and Children’s Care Group; project managers working within our Major Capital Projects team, and the ongoing support of the RCHT Trust Board. Together with our external partners at BAM, Stride Treglown and Arcadis, we have successfully developed this programme to Outline Business Case stage and are looking forward to continuing on to the next stage of the programme.”
“We are absolutely delighted that the programme of activity to build a new Women and Children’s Hospital has moved forward significantly with the announcement from the Secretary of State for Health,” said Jon Clarke, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, and Joint Clinical Director of the Women and Children’s Care Group. “Our geographical isolation means that many of those working at the hospital are also parents to children born here. Additionally, many of us have relatives who have had children, or mothers, cared for here in Truro. It means so much to our staff, as well as to the whole community, that this new hospital will soon be a reality.”
Roberta added: “As we proceed towards Full Business Case stage and gaining full planning consent, we look forward to launching our public engagement campaign for the Women and Children’s Hospital. Plans will be highlighted this week at the Royal Cornwall Show, providing a first opportunity for our communities to see what the new building could look like. We will also visit a number of community events in the coming months across the county, many in partnership with the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board.”
If you’d like to have your say about the new Women and Children’s Hospital development, please take part in this survey.
