Chief executive gives thanks for hospital campaign

• QEH monthly column – June 2023 – written by Alice Webster, chief executive officer of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn:

I’m delighted to finally be able to start my column the news we’ve all be waiting for – a new hospital will be coming to King’s Lynn and West Norfolk!

At the end of May, the Government announced that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn (QEH) has been added to the New Hospital Programme. Everyone at Team QEH is overjoyed with this fantastic news and would like to thank our amazing local community, partners and external stakeholders, as well as our dedicated staff and local politicians, for their tireless support.

This crucial announcement means we can move at pace to bring you a much-needed new hospital. It’s excellent news for our patients, the communities we serve, as well as our dedicated staff and volunteers.

This announcement simply would not have happened without those who campaigned alongside us. I want to express immense gratitude to all who supported us – this campaign united us, and I am delighted that we have achieved this result together.

Whilst we celebrate this news – I am very aware this heralds the start of a long journey with lots of planning and work to be done before we can open the doors to a new state-of-the-art hospital.

It will take a number of years to go through the necessary planning and approvals process and to build the hospital. The very earliest we would expect a new hospital to open its doors is 2029.

Last week we began that journey with the demolition of the Inspire Centre, which will make way for the multi-storey car park. The Inspire Centre has been a landmark at the entrance to The QEH site for many years and has taken on many different uses from social club, to vaccination centre.

The building is constructed from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) like much of our main hospital building so has a limited lifespan.

The new multi-storey car park, which we hope to begin construction on in September this year – a key enabling project for our hospital build which will be built on the current car park.

As our future hospital plans begin to take further shape, we will be keen to speak to you: our patients, partners, local communities, staff and stakeholders. This engagement will be central to making our brand-new hospital the best it can be.

As well as progressing our new hospital we will need to continue to maintain our current site so we can offer care of the highest level in a safe environment. The surveying and safety failsafe programme will continue in earnest as we put the safety of our patients and staff at the top of our list.

We are currently working through year two of a three year rolling programme of works across the site, so if you visit us at QEH you can expect to still see this necessary building work taking place.

We will keep you regularly updated with information available on our website dedicated to the new hospital at www.newqeh.org.uk. You can also email questions to newhospital@qehkl.nhs.uk.

Let me take this opportunity to thank all of you for your continued support, we greatly appreciate you championing the needs of our patients, staff and community.