King's Lynn hospital: multi-storey car park plans announced

The roof of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn is having to be supported by wooden and steel props

An NHS hospital that has 1,500 props supporting its roof says plans for a new multi-storey car park will to help its case to get funding a new hospital on the site.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in King's Lynn, Norfolk, has steel and wooden posts in 56 areas to support its ageing roof.

Managers have submitted a bid to be one of eight new projects across England.

A new 1,379-space car park would help them to be "investment ready", it said.

Laura Skaife-Knight, deputy chief executive of the QEH NHS Foundation Trust, said it wanted to "future-proof for decades to come".

The hospital trust said the proposed multi-storey would help provide more parking spaces when any new hospital was built

Building a new multi-storey car park is part of a plan to "address ongoing and well-recognised parking challenges", she said.

Expert opinion has been that the hospital, which opened in 1980, has an end-of-life date of 2030, but no announcement has been made about whether it will get government funding for a replacement.

• More than 1,500 props supporting hospital's roof

• Buckets used to catch rain at propped-up hospital

• Propped-up hospital a 'priority' - health secretary

Ms Skaife-Knight said a new building on the existing site was "the only long-term sustainable" option.

"I'm optimistic we have an incredibly compelling case," she said.

"To secure the £862m of government funding we need, we must show we have plans in place to address any disruption that a major build on our existing site could bring by providing adequate car parking both during the building works and once the new hospital is open."

Subject to funding and planning permission, phase one of the car park, with 500 spaces, could be completed in early 2024, with phase two completed by the end of that year, adding a further 879 spaces.

Local residents, patients, stakeholders and partners have been asked to share their views on the car park, which would then inform the trust's planning application.

Meetings to discuss plans will be held on Wednesday and Thursday at the Knights Hill Hotel in King's Lynn, with a third virtual meeting on Zoom on Friday.

There are many props and temporary supports in place across the hospital

In 2020, the government announced 40 hospitals would be built by 2030 as part of a package worth £3.7bn, with a further eight schemes invited to bid for future funding.

The trust is waiting to hear if it will be one of those eight across England chosen to get a new hospital.

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