Plans to invest more than £500m to build a brand new emergency care hospital in Sutton and modernise Epsom and St Helier hospitals are another step closer following a review of the decision by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock. You can download the full letter here. Included in this letter, the Chair of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel said, “change is essential and requires significant new capital investment to provide appropriate buildings”.
We welcome this additional scrutiny that this assessment from the IRP has brought and remain committed to the timeline we have set out to have the new hospital opened in 2025.
Following an extensive public consultation and the joint decision made by NHS Surrey Heartlands and NHS South West London clinical commissioning groups in July 2020, we have been working closely with our partners at Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust to progress plans for a brand new, state of the art hospital built in Sutton to treat the sickest patients, with the majority of services staying put in modernised buildings at Epsom and St Helier hospitals.
Local people raised queries and concerns and NHS Leaders agreed a range of actions to improve these areas including, commissioning a further independent ‘deprivation review’ by The King’s Fund to look at the future needs of our communities in East Merton and North Sutton, reviewing bus routes into Merton and further south into Surrey beyond Epsom and car parking on all three sites, to make sure there is enough for patients, visitors and staff.
Under the plans, around 85% of current services will stay put at Epsom and St Helier, with six major services being brought together in the new specialist emergency care hospital, including A&E, critical care and emergency surgery.
We will work closely with our local councils and all our partners in Merton, Sutton and Surrey to focus on providing high-quality healthcare for everyone for generations to come in a newly built emergency care hospital and refurbished existing hospital buildings.
The development of the business case to invest £500 million locally is being taken forward by Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust who will keep you updated on their progress.