New Reading hospital construction could start in four years

The current Royal Berkshire Hospital needs £200m of maintenance, according to the trust

Construction of a new hospital in Reading is likely to begin in 2025 or 2026, an NHS trust has said.

Royal Berkshire Hospital will either be rebuilt in its current location or constructed elsewhere, the plans show.

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust said it would spend the next 12 to 18 months looking at options before making a decision.

The trust revealed the current hospital requires £200m in maintenance work and needs more clinical space.

It is one of 48 trusts that will receive government funding to rebuild or construct new hospitals by 2030.

According to BBC Reality Check, it is not clear what constitutes a new hospital, as the pledge includes refurbishments of existing hospitals.

The government has not yet announced how much funding the Royal Berkshire Hospital trust will receive, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Following a public consultation, the trust said it had narrowed down the possibilities to three options:

• Completely rebuilding the hospital at the current site

• Redevelopment of the site, including an emergency care block, elective centre for planned hospital care, a new women's and children's facility, and a local medical school

• Building a new hospital at a different location

Alison Foster, programme director at the trust, said the government would make the final decision on which plan would go ahead, but the trust would "pull the information together to help make that decision and make a case for what is best for the needs of the population".

"We will put forward proposals that are good value for money," she added.