Plymouth hospital expansion approved

Planning permission has been granted for University Hospitals Plymouth to redevelop its healthcare estate as part of the Government’s New Hospital Programme.

The focus for phase one of the ‘Future Hospital’ programme will be at Derriford Hospital. This will involve the development of a new Urgent and Emergency Care Centre; a purpose-built facility, creating space to care for the sickest patients. 

The 15,000m² new build will see the co-location of the Emergency Department with urgent care pathways and the addition of dedicated interventional radiology theatre capacity (hybrid theatres which bring real-time diagnostic imaging capabilities into the operating theatre). Enabling work is due to begin later this year with plans for construction work to start in 2023.

Future Hospital Director, Stuart Windsor said: “We are delighted to announce that planning permission has been granted by Plymouth City Council for the first phase of our development work.

“Our existing Emergency Department was built at a time when demand was significantly lower, so this major investment in our healthcare estate will allow us to address this fundamental challenge by doubling the amount of space for care delivery.

“It also puts us in a once-in-a-generation position to rethink the way we provide the service of the future, be that with new buildings, new digital technologies or new ways of working clinically.”