Royal Berkshire Hospital: New survey launched to see where public want a Berkshire hospital
Another survey asking people where they want a hospital in Berkshire has been launched.
It’s part of a long running saga to either bulldoze the existing Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) in Reading and build another one, or revamp the one that is already there.
Views are sought on Thames Valley Park at the end of the A329M – 2.2 miles north east of the current site between Newtown and Woodley – and Thames Valley Science Park – 3.7 miles south east of the current site, off the M4 near Shinfield.
You can take part in the survey by clicking here.
Alternative options include completely rebuilding the hospital at its current site, or a partial redevelopment to create a new emergency care block, an elective centre for planned hospital care, a new women’s and children’s facility, and a medical school.
The New Hospital Programme
In October 2020 the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the 40 trusts that comprise the New Hospital Programme (NHP) and the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust is one of these trusts.
A new hospital for Reading, West Berkshire and Wokingham has been on the cards since 2016 when the then health secretary Matt Hancock said the RBH would be one of 40 hospitals the Government was going to rebuild.
Months turned into years with the Government insisting it would build a new hospital in Reading – without really nailing down what that meant.
Early costs put the rebuild on the current site at around £850m with a new hospital on another site coming in at about £1.1bn.
Finally last year the Government revealed work on the hospitals it had promised back in 2016 to build would be open by 2030.
But the RBH was put back again as other hospitals with crumbling concrete were prioritised.
After that, there was a General Election and a new Government.
Labour’s much vaunted reforms claim to shift the NHS away from a model geared towards late diagnosis and treatment, to a model where more services are delivered in local communities.
The new Government has promised it will introduce a new ‘Fit For the Future’ fund to double the number of CT and MRI scanners, allowing the NHS to catch cancer and other conditions earlier, saving lives.
It is also clear that NHS estates are in a state of disrepair after years of neglect – hence Labour’s commitment to delivering the New Hospitals Programme.
Both the Newbury and the Reading West and Mid Berkshire MPs, Lee Dillon and Olivia Bailey, have ‘pledged’ to lobby for a new hospital.
But there is still a but.
Car parking in and around the hospital being restricted and expensive is a further reason cited for a new build on a new site.
However, the move may fall foul of a legal technicality.
Officers in West Berkshire say the re-development of the Royal Berkshire Hospital would affect patient flows from several different local authorities and so would require another joint committee involving other councils.
There are no details on direct bus routes from Newbury to the possible new site, and West Berkshire Council has asked The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust to provide patient flow data to identify which local authorities are likely to be affected by the development proposal.
What Berkshire West’s top boss says
And Berkshire West’s top public health boss said earlier this year he has serious concerns about plans to build a new Royal Berkshire Hospital.
He says it is in danger of being a white elephant and not fit for purpose in 30 years time.
“I am not alone in having some major concerns about the way this is being approached,” said John Ashton, interim director for public health for Berkshire West, speaking at a Health and Wellbeing Board.
“It seems the questions are being framed around replacing a hospital, rather than what kind of health system is going to be required in 30 or 40 years time.”
‘Hopsital 2.0’
If it ever does get built, it will be modelled the same as all the other new hospitals in a programme called ‘Hospital 2.0’.
This means, according to the health trusts, that the New Hospital Programme can develop new innovative “hospitals for the future” that can be built more efficiently, quickly and at a reduced cost.
Not only that, ‘Hospital 2.0’ seeks to standardise clinical flows and spaces.
In a nutshell, ‘Hospital 2.0’ is a comprehensive system that aims to revolutionise healthcare through operational efficiency, strong governance and clinical excellence.
This means that the New Hospital Programme will “section” buildings of various hospitals into stages, or “chunks”.
If all hospitals in the NHP began construction at the same time, pricing for local building materials and the like would skyrocket.
So its hoped modularisation will be beneficial in terms of efficiency, as hospitals in the NHP that have followed this have seen substantial on-site programme savings and area savings of up to 23 per cent.
In more detail - each room within the hospital is dissected into individual components that form part of a broader ‘NHP Kit of Parts catalogue’.
Think factory build process, rather than bespoke hospitals.
The Royal Berkshire Hospital: Key facts
The Royal Berkshire Hospital provides acute hospital services to the residents of the western and central portions of Berkshire, and is managed by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.
The RBH was opened in 1839 on the London Road on land donated by Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, a local resident and former Prime Minister.
The hospital was built by local architect and builder Henry Briant, who won the design competition.
King William IV took a keen interest in the hospital before it was built and as a consequence, his arms appear on the central pediment, although he died before the hospital opened.
The first patron of the hospital was William’s niece and successor, Queen Victoria.
