Hospital shell would be built ahead of 2,000 new homes

Construction of the shell of a new super hospital in Canterbury would start ahead of work on the thousands of homes needed to pay for it.

Developer Mark Quinn says a loan from Homes England would forward-fund the project on a site next to the current Kent and Canterbury Hospital.

The borrowing would be secured against the value of surrounding land, upon which 2,000 new homes would be built.

Mr Quinn revealed details of the funding plan after questions were asked of his capability to build the hospital shell ahead of the housing development.

Concerns were raised at a meeting of the Sustainable Health Care in East Kent Joint Committee of NHS CCGS on Thursday.

Chris Morley, the Ashford CCG lay member for the committee, asked: “Is [the hospital shell] something that might be available as a true gift before any development starts, or will we have to wait until he has built his development and had it occupied?

“I know in other planning considerations, normally money might be underwritten, but you don’t receive it until a proportion of the development is occupied.”

Mr Quinn explained afterwards that Homes England has agreed to loan the money required to build the hospital shell.

He says construction would start at the same time as new roads and utilities for the housing development, but the shell would be complete ahead of any new homes.

“I don’t think a single house will be built before the hospital shell is complete,” he said. “I’d imagine from the final decision being made the whole process will take about three-and-a-half years.

“That would be about a year or a year-and-a-half for the planning process, and then two years for construction.

“Work on the first house wouldn’t start until about 18 months into the build of the hospital shell.”

The proposal is one of two options on the table to reconfigure hospitals in east Kent.

At Thursday’s meeting, the committee said both will be considered against key criteria before a recommendation is made on which option to take forward to public consultation.

If option one is favoured, all specialised services and a major trauma unit would be centralised at the William Harvey in Ashford. Margate’s QEQM would retain its A&E and maternity units, while at Canterbury there would be a 24/7 Gp-led urgent treatment centre treating illnesses and injuries which are not 999 emergencies.

Option two would see the stateof-the-art Canterbury hospital house a single major emergency centre and all specialist services in east Kent.

Ashford and Margate would lose their A&E departments, but have 24/7 urgent treatment centres.

The cost of both options has soared to £225m and £302m respectively, up from £160m and £250m when the plans were first tabled in 2017.

Public concern centres on longer travel times, public transport problems and potential staff shortages under both proposals.

Caroline Selkirk, managing director for the four east Kent clinical commissioning groups, told the committee the options will be examined in “forensic detail.”

“Everyone involved in this work is passionate about getting it right for patients and this takes time,” she said. “It’s a significant project which potentially involves major changes.

“We have to look at this in forensic detail and make sure we get it right, not just for people today but for future generations.”

Dr Darren Cocker, a GP from Lydden, is one of the clinicians working on the plans.

He said: “Since we discussed the options with the public late last year, we have updated the proposals to confirm that all three hospitals would have 24/7 urgent treatment centres in both options; and we propose including a midwife-led maternity unit at Margate in option two.

“The proposals will also include providing outpatient services at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital in both options.”

‘I don’t think a single house will be built before the hospital shell is complete’