New Oxford hospital surgery hub to meet growing demand

The block will be built on one of the existing car parks

A hospital will build seven new operating theatres to help meet increasing demand.

The five-storey surgical hub, on a car park at the John Radcliffe Hospital, has been approved by planners at Oxford City Council.

The development will reduce parking spaces for hospital staff while creating more than 170 extra jobs, councillors were told.

The public benefits will outweigh any harm to the landscape, they heard.

The hospital said the new building was "urgently" needed to meet patient demand

Council officers said the building would "not be significantly visible from the public realm".

Oxford Civic Society previously said the loss of more than 130 staff parking spaces was "serious".

"The site is badly served by public transport and is frequently congested on site and on the surrounding roads," it added.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which already has a waiting list for staff parking permits, will encourage workers not to commute by car, councillors heard.

The trust has agreed to contribute more than £170,000 to the new Eastern Arc bus route, they were told.

It said the new theatre building was "urgently" required to address the growing number of patients waiting for routine elective surgery and the "significant" waiting lists following the Covid pandemic.

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