Major Musgrove Park Hospital upgrade is on the waiting list

File image of Musgrove Park Hospital
-Credit:Daniel Mumby


Major work at Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital may not be take place for five to ten years, according to a Government announcement today. The hospital is part of 'Wave 2' plans for the new hospital programme (NHP). While hospitals in Wave 1 will begin construction between 2025 and 2030, hospitals in Wave 2 will see construction begin between 2030 and 2035.

Musgrove Park Hospital was one of the 40 hospitals which were set to be rebuilt, enhanced or replaced as part of the new hospitals programme instituted by Boris Johnson's government in October 2020.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting told MPs: “Projects in wave zero are already in the advanced stages of development and will be completed within the next three years.”

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He added: “Wave one schemes will begin construction between 2025 and 2030. These include the seven RAAC hospitals – Leighton Hospital, West Suffolk Hospital, Frimley Park Hospital, Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, James Paget Hospital and Airedale General Hospital.

“The other wave one schemes are: Poole Hospital, Milton Keynes Hospital, Brighton 3Ts Hospital, Women and Children’s Hospital Cornwall, Derriford Emergency Care Hospital, Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, Shotley Bridge Community Hospital, North Manchester General Hospital and Hillingdon Hospital.

“Wave two schemes will now begin main construction between 2030 and 2035. They are: Leicester General Hospital Royal Infirmary, Watford General Hospital, the Specialist and Emergency Care Hospital in Sutton, Kettering General Hospital, Leeds General Infirmary, Musgrove Park Hospital, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Torbay Hospital and Whipps Cross Hospital.”

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He added: “Wave three includes nine schemes which will start construction between 2035 and 2039.

“These are St Mary’s Hospital in London, Charing Cross Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital, North Devon District Hospital, Eastbourne District General Hospital, Conquest Hospital and Bexhill Hospital scheme, Hampshire Hospitals, Royal Berkshire Hospital, Royal Preston Hospital, the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Queen’s Medical Centre Nottingham City Hospital.”

Musgrove Park Hospital provides inpatient, outpatient, emergency care and children’s and maternity services. It has a high dependency and intensive care unit, 16 operating theatres and numerous medical and surgical inpatient wards.

There are plans for an £80 million surgical centre that will include state-of-the-art operating theatres and a critical care unit which will replace the older buildings.

Health Secretary Mr Streeting told MPs today: “I know patients in some parts of the country will be disappointed by this new timetable. They are right to be.

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“They were led up the garden path by three Conservative prime ministers, all promising hospitals with no credible plan for funding to deliver them and Conservative MPs who stood on a manifesto promise they knew could never be kept.

“We will not treat the British people with the same contempt, we will never play fast and loose with the public’s trust. The plan we have laid out today is honest, funded and can actually be delivered.

“It is a serious, credible plan to build the hospitals our NHS needs. It is part of the biggest capital investment the NHS has seen since Labour was last in office, delivering not just more hospitals but new surgical hubs, community diagnostic centres, AI-enabled scanners, radiotherapy machines, modern technology, new mental health crisis centres and upgrades to hundreds of GP estates.

“It will take time but this Labour Government is determined to rebuild our NHS and rebuild trust in politics.”

Mr Streeting added that all New Hospital Programme units will be "delivered". He vowed to “put the programme on a firm footing with sustainable funding so all the projects can be delivered”.