New hospital accommodation block plans revealed

The health trust said the new accommodation would help with recruitment and retention of staff

Plans have been revealed for a proposed new staff accommodation block at a hospital.

The plans are part of £600m upgrade for North Devon District Hospital (NDDH), which is one of four NHS building projects in the South West currently under government review.

The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust wants to demolish Munro House and Chichester House on Raleigh Road and replace them with one four-storey, flat-roofed building.

North Devon MP Ian Roome told Parliament this week that if the hospital did not get funding for the overall upgrade, critical and acute services would be at "serious risk of service failure".

The existing staff blocks are 50 years old

The new block would contain 112 ensuite bedrooms, some of which would be wheelchair accessible, together with a laundry, study areas and a bike and surf board store.

The trust said the new facility would help staff recruitment and retention.

The existing accommodation units are 50-years old, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

The unit would be the first phase of the project after which new intensive care facilities and operating theatres would be built.

Funding for the works had been promised by the previous Conservative government in the 2019 New Hospitals Programme.