Delay to Musgrove Park Hospital’s New Hospital Programme

Our chief executive, Peter Lewis, says:

“We estimate that our programme has been further delayed by at least another five years as a result of the review of the New Hospitals Programme. We further estimate that the build will take approximately seven years, and the whole programme will not be complete before 2040. Development of our NHP programme will now pause until 2030/1 and construction will not begin until 2033 - 2035.

“This is bitterly disappointing for the patients and families we care for and for the colleagues who work in some buildings that are nearly 80 years old and not fit for a modern NHS.

“Parts of Musgrove Park Hospital were built in the 1940s. The roofs leak, the services infrastructure is woeful and needs significant upgrade, and we have concerns about our ability to keep those areas running and provide clinical services to vulnerable patients from them. The Care Quality Commission described the impact that our outdated maternity unit has on the privacy and dignity of the mothers, babies and families we care for.

“This delay is a bitter blow. Our New Hospitals Programme is planned to replace our outdated women’s (including maternity), children’s and elective surgical facilities, and to expand urgent and emergency care.

“We will now spend some time reviewing what this delay means, and how we manage the parts of our hospital that are not fit for purpose for approximately 15 years before we are able to complete the build programme.”