'Urgent' bid for new North Tees hospital submitted

Trust bosses have warned the University Hospital of North Tees is in desperate shape

A bid for funding to replace a decaying Teesside hospital has been officially submitted, with an estimated price tag of £380m.

Stockton's University Hospital of North Tees opened in the 1960s, but bosses say there are problems with its layout and decrepit infrastructure, including leaking pipes and roofs.

The annual cost for repairs is about £8m, it was revealed earlier this year.

Both of the town's MPs have called on the government to approve the bid.

It is due to announce next spring which eight sites across the country will have new hospitals by 2030 with the money coming from its Health Infrastructure Fund.

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust has warned the current building only has 10 years left before it must be replaced.

'Urgent need'

Chief executive Julie Gillon said: "We must invest in the future of health and care in the Tees Valley.

"Our region is home to some of the UK's most deprived communities. Our challenge is to ensure that any health inequalities that exist are challenged and tackled.

"We have every confidence that the government understands the urgent need we have for a new hospital site."

Missing ceiling tiles are a common sight across the hospital, the trust said

A proposal for a £460m "super hospital" at Wynyard Park fell by the wayside in 2010 after it was axed by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

Doubts over funding a less costly scheme saw the entire project shelved in 2014, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Stockton South MP Matt Vickers, a Conservative, said he was "delighted" the funding bid had been submitted and that he would "continue to lobby ministers... to create a truly modern hospital".

Labour's Alex Cunningham, MP for Stockton North, said: "We need state-of-the art services and facilities to improve the health of local people."