Kettering General Hospital gets go-ahead for £38m works to prepare for rebuild

Kettering General Hospital has received the go-ahead to start enabling works to prepare for its multi-million pound rebuild.

The hospital has received written confirmation from the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England that it can begin to access £38m of capital from an initial funding allocation of £46m announced in October 2019.

This will mean the hospital can start to prepare parts of its site for the major rebuild itself which, subject to business case approvals and funding, could begin in 2025.

Kettering General Hospital’s director of strategy Polly Grimmett, who is overseeing the hospital’s plans, said: “It is great news that we now have the official go-ahead to start enabling works which will pave the way for our hospital rebuild.

“One of the first things we will do is start work to prepare our site for a new energy centre and for new electrical infrastructure.

“This is a vital foundation for the rebuild and will help to reduce some of the considerable risks we face on a daily basis working with old facilities on a large and extremely busy hospital site.”

The hospital has had its outline business case for the energy centre approved by Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England’s Joint Investment Committee. Subject to further approvals work could start in December 2023 and be completed by December 2024.

In addition, it has had its £4.14m case for electrical infrastructure approved by the New Hospital Programme Investment Committee with work due to start in spring 2023, to be completed by the end of the year.

The hospital is currently running its heating and hot water from a 10-year-old temporary boiler plant and steam network system, which has regular maintenance issues.

In addition, most of the hospital’s high voltage electrical infrastructure is more than 50 years old and its main power supply has reached its maximum capacity.

The hospital says its new energy centre will make a significant contribution towards its ambition to achieve net carbon zero status by 2040. The new facility will deliver 40 per cent of the target reduction in carbon emissions and use less fossil fuel.

Hospital chief executive Deborah Needham said: “It is great news that our plans for a major rebuild of Kettering General Hospital have taken a step forward.

“There is an urgent need to make our hospital suitable for the future needs of our rapidly growing local population – one of the fastest growing in England.”

In 2019, the Rothwell Road hospital was awarded £46m for a new urgent care hub and £350m for a major redevelopment, and was later told they could merge the two pots of cash avoid any delays.

When rebuild plans were first revealed in 2020 KGH said they had developed a ‘once-in-a-generation’ plan to rebuild it on the same site, where just 20 per cent of the estate is currently classed as ‘fit for purpose’. Now the trust plans a two-phase rebuild.

After the demolition of some older buildings to make way for the Urgent Care Hub – subject to business case approval – a new Urgent Care Hub would be built with new A&E departments for children and adults, new assessment areas and six new wards.

Phase two would see the move into the Urgent Care Hub and demolition of the old A&E department and other older buildings to create a new front entrance to the hospital complete with new imaging, wards and operating theatres.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: “I am pleased the trust can drive forward with these essential early building works, including upgrading 50-year-old electrical infrastructure, which we discussed during my visit in August.

“This is an important next step, helping to build a stronger, healthier future for our health and care services to give people the security of knowing services will be there for them when they need it.”

Kettering MP Philip Hollobone said: “Today is a really important day for Kettering, with the long-awaited and much campaigned for official Government go-ahead for the start of the redevelopment works at KGH.

“KGH is a much-loved local hospital which has been serving the local community with pride on the same site for 125 years. This is the start of the biggest ever investment in our local NHS and will provide local residents with the expanded hospital we need for the years ahead.”

The New Hospital Programme’s senior responsible owner Natalie Forrest welcomed the milestone.

She said: “These enabling works are the first important step in transforming patient care and delivering a new hospital for the people of Kettering.

“We have worked closely with teams from the trust to find the best solutions, renewing much-needed infrastructure, which will prepare the way for a modern, more effective and efficient building.”

The population of Northamptonshire and south Leicestershire that KGH serves has already grown by double the national average over recent years.

Latest Office for National Statistics data estimates above-average percentage population growth of up to 40 per cent over the next 30 years.

The hospital expects a 21 per cent increase in the number of over-80s in the local area in the next five years. The local area has committed to at least 35,000 new houses over the next 10 years, and the local population is set to rise by some 84,000 to 400,000 people.