Health investment plan gains approval
Categories: 2007 Media Releases
Media release 15 February 2024
Health investment plan gains approval
Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and its partners have welcomed the announcement by the Strategic Health Authority to approve the Greater Peterborough Health Investment Plan (GPHIP).
The East of England Strategic Health Authority (SHA) has carried out a review of the full business case for GPHIP and at its board meeting on 15 February it decided that it will approve the continuation of the project.
GPHIP is a £330 million project to build a new acute hospital, integrated care centre and a mental health hospital in Peterborough by 2010. It is a joint project between the hospitals trust, Peterborough Primary Care Trust and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust working with their chosen PFI partner, Progress Health.
St. Clair Armitage, Project Director, said: ”This is excellent news for the local healthcare economy, the people of Greater Peterborough and the surrounding towns and villages. It has taken a great deal of hard work by all three trusts and our colleagues in Progress Health to get to this stage. We now look forward to the next stage in the process – gaining approvals from the Department of Health and the Treasury - prior to contracts being signed and building work commencing.”
Alan Turner, Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Interim Chief Executive, said: “This is very welcome news and we are obviously delighted to have overcome this latest hurdle. I think it underlines the strength of the project and is a testament to the hard work of everybody involved.
“While this is excellent news, there is still some way to go before we can start construction, hopefully in the spring. We are working hard to be in a position to sign contracts with Progress Health but in the meantime the project’s full business case has to be approved by the Treasury and the Department of Health.”
Angela Bailey, Chief Executive, Peterborough Primary Care Trust, said: “We are delighted that the Strategic Health Authority has recognised the merits of this project, which will allow us to take a major step forward in the modernisation of local healthcare facilities. The project will benefit the local population in many ways, and will enable us to continue to positively promote health and well being across Peterborough and the surrounding area.”
Karen Bell, Chief Executive, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, said: “We are very pleased to receive this news. It means that we can now move forward with confidence and look forward to when the new mental health unit can open. To have a new purpose-built unit will be a tremendous boost for service users, their carers and our staff, - helping them to provide the best possible care to some of the most vulnerable people in society.”
Following today’s announcement, Keith Pearson, Chairman of the SHA said,
“The SHA recognises the importance of this major development, as it will provide significant modernisation of health services for the people of the Greater Peterborough areas. We look forward to working even closer with the NHS in Peterborough to improve patient experience in both primary and secondary care.”
Ross Ballingall, Director of Multiplex, said: “A lot of hard work has gone into progressing to this stage and we intend to maintain that level of commitment. Multiplex is looking forward to delivering this exciting project as soon as possible.”
Ends
Note to Editors:
1. The review of GPHIP by the SHA is part of an approvals stage that must be completed prior to contracts being signed with the PFI consortium and construction work beginning.
2. The next part of this process is to gain official approval from the Department of Health and the Treasury.
3. Once all approvals are in place, contracts would be signed (financial close) with Progress Health and building work would begin.
4. The new acute hospital will be built on the Edith Cavell site and will include 612 inpatient beds, an emergency care centre, a high-tech diagnostics unit, women and children’s unit, cancer unit, specialist rehabilitation unit, renal dialysis and a multi-disciplinary training centre. It is due to open in 2009/10.
5. The new 102-bed mental health unit, run by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust will be built on the Edith Cavell Hospital site and will include adult acute, psychiatric intensive care and older peoples units and services for people with learning disabilities unit, centralised dining, fitness, recreational and staff facilities and garden areas.
6. The integrated care centre, run by Peterborough Primary Care Trust will be built on the site of the Fenland Wing at Peterborough District Hospital and will include 34 specialist rehabilitation beds, a pharmacy, outpatient diagnostic and treatment centre, general rehabilitation services and children’s care centre. It is due to open in 2009.
7. Progress Health is a PFI consortium made up of Macquarie bank, Multiplex Constructions, Multiplex Facilities Management, Medirest and Asteral. It was selected as the competition winner in March 2005.
8. The project team has worked closely with the government’s design watchdog, CABE, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment. CABE assigned one of its regional enabling team members – an expert healthcare architect – to advise on the plans.
