East Sussex hospitals rebuild project to get £2bn

Construction on Eastbourne District General Hospital will begin in 2037

The government has pledged to spend £1.5bn-£2bn on rebuilding and refurbishing buildings at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust's hospitals, but says work will not start for 12 years.

A rebuild of Eastbourne District General Hospital was promised by the previous Conservative government in 2020 as part of its pledge to build 40 new hospitals by 2035.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting told Parliament on Monday that the "money simply wasn't there" to deliver on that promise.

After reviewing 25 of the schemes included in the new hospital programme, the government has now confirmed it will invest £20bn in hospital building projects.

Alongside Eastbourne District General, Conquest Hospital and Bexhill Community Hospital have been included in the final "wave" of the programme, meaning an expected construction start date of 2037-2039.

The Liberal Democrat MP for Eastbourne, Josh Babarinde, said: "I am really pleased that there is going to be that investment in the hospital to upgrade it to the standard that it needs.

"But it's going to take far too long. The people of Eastbourne deserve that investment now, they don't deserve to stay at the [back] of the queue."

Addressing Streeting in the House of Commons, the Shadow Health Secretary Edward Argar said Labour had "broken their promise" to deliver new hospitals and had "cynically betrayed the trust of British people."

Streeting said patients in some parts of the country had every right to feel "disappointed" by the proposed timetable but stressed that it was a "serious, credible plan to build the hospitals our NHS needs".

A spokesperson for East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said: "We welcome that the trust remains part of the programme for delivery of schemes over the long term.

"Given the significant delay to the programme, the trust will now need to identify essential works and the associated funding to protect our estate and infrastructure while we wait for our new hospital to be built."

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