No slowdown to new Crewe Hospital plans following government support

On Monday 20th January 2025, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting MP, delivered a statement to the House of Commons where support was given to rebuild hospitals, including Leighton Hospital.

Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s programme, known as Healthier Futures, manages the development of a health and care neighbourhood, including the construction of the most digitally enabled hospital in the country, and oversees the ambitious plans to transform health and care, both for now and future generations.

While the Trust’s scheme is part of the NHP, it was not included in this review as the government has previously said the programme is exempt due to Leighton Hospital being one of seven RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) hospitals.

But during his statement, Mr Streeting said: “Outside the scope of the review were the seven hospitals built wholly or mostly from RAAC. These will be rebuilt at pace to protect people’s safety.” 

In relation to delivery, the government has said the Trust’s programme would be part of the ‘Wave 1’ schemes, with an expected construction start date of 2027-2028.

Russ Favager, the Trust’s Board Senior Responsible Officer for Leighton New Hospital Programme and Estates Redevelopment, said:

“This statement from the Secretary of State is positive news for our plans. 

“While the government has given an expected construction start date of 2027-2028, we are pushing ahead for a start on site of around early 2027.

“That means the people of mid Cheshire and beyond can rest assured that the Healthier Futures programme, is not slowing down. In fact, it’s the opposite.

“Our priority for this year continues to be development of our Outline Business Case (OBC), which is a massive programme of work. The OBC, which assesses the best option for delivering the strategic objectives and benefits within the resource envelope available, will be submitted to the NHP in 2026.

“Also planned for 2025 are a series of public planning consultation events as part of an outline planning application, which will be submitted to Cheshire East Council in the spring, with the hope of securing planning permission later in the year. 

“We continue our focus on involvement, with continued design engagement work for our staff alongside our patient and carer lived experiences programme. We are also due to launch our Big Conversation in the next few weeks, which will involve talking to communities and partners across the region with the aim of listening, understanding, and co-creating solutions that will contribute to the delivery of our programme. 

“Combined, the activities will all help shape the new hospital and the design work should be nearing completion by the end of 2025.

“Other highlights for this year include essential infrastructure work to bring power to the proposed site of the new hospital, along with putting plans in place for the procurement of the main works contractor to build the hospital.

“The development of our health and care neighbourhood is one of the biggest infrastructure projects seen in Cheshire for many years, but we recognise it will only be achieved by us all working together.

“We are wholly committed to keeping people fully up-to-date with our plans so I look forward to sharing further details with our communities, partners, and stakeholders, throughout this year.”

More information about Healthier Futures is available on our microsite here: 

healthierfutures.mcht.nhs.uk

Pictured - The current Leighton Hospital site.