A glimpse at the potential future hospital aimed to be built in Doncaster by 2025

Politicians from both Labour, Conservatives and an array of public and private sector leaders, have come behind a project to bring a new hospital to the town’s Waterfront by 2025.

The new site would be built to the highest environmental standards, be ready and equipped for future pandemics and provide state-of-the-art facilities for staff and patients.

The borough was handed a blow after Doncaster was snubbed in the first round of Government funding for new hospitals across the country last year.

Confidence was high following the election of a Tory MP in Nick Fletcher who just weeks after being voted in, accompanied Health Secretary Matt Hancock in a visit to Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

But Doncaster, surprising to many, was not chosen.

But the state-of-the-art facility will not come cheap, estimates show the project could cost up to £934 million.

The case for a new hospital in Doncaster is strong, the trust which runs DRI says it spends up to five per cent of its annual budget on maintenance alone and the repairs backlog stands at a whopping £60 million.

In 2019/2020, the trust spent £11.2 million on maintenance alone and 600 jobs are outstanding to get the hospital up to scratch.

The current hospital was built in 1930 with further expansion in the 1960s is not fit for the 21st century, say bosses.

Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Teaching Hospitals, Richard Parker, said: “The site requires a significant capital investment each year just to ensure it remains safe.

“This means we are not moving forward while our maintenance backlog continues to creep, and is currently within the worst 15 per cent of all hospitals in the UK.

“Working through solid and proven partnerships with Doncaster Council and many other key stakeholders, we will create a state-of-the-art hospital campus which will help make the town a vibrant northern centre, stimulating regional economic activity, carving out opportunities for local people, and ultimately, offering the very best care and treatment.”

The site’s emergency department was built to deal with a peak of around 200 patients – daily we care for an average of 350 to 400 patients.

Hospital bosses have also said there is ‘extreme pressure’ on power supplies due to a system that is over 50 years old.

Planning permission also ‘makes it impossible’ to build a multi-storey car park to accommodate more than 3,000 health professionals and the site is land-locked, meaning that further expansion is no longer possible.

Another aspect of the site would be the construction of a higher education university campus which would house and train the next generation of NHS frontline workers likely in partnership with both Sheffield universities.

Doncaster Council’s chief executive Damian Allen, said the project would be a huge proponent of regeneration in the borough.

“The Waterfront in Doncaster’s town centre is one of the largest brownfield sites in the UK that once developed could bring significant social, environmental and economic regeneration benefits,” he said.

“The central catalyst for this site is the opportunity to build a hospital, which has been under development for three years and includes an integrated teaching facility and research centre which will improve the borough’s research and educational offer.

“The planned development will be a carbon neutral building to ensure it is to be fully compliant with NHS standards and potentially be one of the first carbon neutral hospitals in the country.”

The new hospital has the full backing of staff and some have detailed how the current facilities constrain their own work and have to rely on centres like Sheffield in some instances.

Dr Anuja Natarajan, consultant paediatric endocrinologist and clinical director paediatrics at DBTH, said: “I am very proud of my department and my hospital and the work the entire team does but professionally I feel dissatisfied that in spite of having a wealth of clinical expertise my team and I have to curb the services we can provide due to the constraints of not having space and the modern technology required.

“The building structure is old and not compatible with installing new technology, theatre space is limited so we have to rely on Sheffield often to operate on cases as we don’t have the capacity but have the surgical skill set.”

The proposed site for a new hospital will also solve many current transport difficulties.

Those living on the east side of Doncaster have to get on two buses just to reach DRI. The new site means that anyone from anywhere in the borough can get to the hospital in a single journey.

This is hoped to drive down the amount of car journeys and increase private investment in bus routes to the new site.

The old DRI site would most likely become housing decreasing the need for new homes in the borough while fulfilling a Government objective of developing on Brownfield sites.

Conservative Don Valley MP Nick Fletcher, said: “Currently, the hospital which serves the town, Doncaster Royal Infirmary, is no longer fit for purpose and is a reminder to people in the borough that their area is very much left behind.

“With the Government committed to ‘Building Back Better’ and levelling up the North as we recover from the coronavirus pandemic this year, it is essential that the people of Doncaster and the staff at DRI are given a renewed sense of optimism.”

In a letter to Government, Doncaster mayor Ros Jones said: “The case for a new hospital in Doncaster on the Waterfront is compelling and would deliver far reaching benefits for health and medical provision, the well-being of residents and become a driver of economic regeneration in Doncaster’s urban centre.

“Together with Ed Milliband MP, and Dame Rosie Winterton MP would welcome further discussions on how we can secure investment for a new hospital for Doncaster.”