Building work on planned new hospitals for Preston and Lancaster will not now begin until the second half of the 2030s – the point by which the facilities had previously been expected to open.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has confirmed that funding will be made available for the projects after the Labour government completed its review of the “40 new hospitals” pledge made by the previous Conservative administration. He told the Commons that all of the previously-announced facilities will still go ahead.

However, the new Royal Preston Hospital and Royal Lancaster Infirmary are amongst nine hospitals that have now been placed in a third and final wave of work – with construction set to start on the Preston facility sometime between 2037 and 2039 and on the Lancaster site between 2035 and 2038.

Cost estimates have also been published, putting an estimated price tag on the new Royal Preston of at least £2bn, while the bill for the replacement Royal Lancaster is expected to be £1-1.5bn.

The timetable for the two projects had already been pushed back by the last Tory government 18 months ago, when its previous commitment that all 40 new hospitals would be open by 2030 was scrapped.

In May 2023, then health secretary Steve Barclay announced that the Royal Preston and Royal Lancaster would become part of “a rolling programme of work” – which would run beyond 2030 – after existing facilities elsewhere in the country affected by dangerous concrete were prioritised for replacement.

Although no specific date was given for when the now post-2030 hospitals would be open, the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed at the time that the expectation amongst local NHS leaders in Lancashire was that they would be ready by the mid-2030s.

The then chief executive of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – which operates the Royal Preston – said shortly after the last government’s announcement that building work would begin on a new facility for the city in 2030.

Just last month, Andrew Bennett, the New Hospitals Programme system lead for Lancashire and South Cumbria, told a meeting of Lancashire County Council’s health scrutiny committee: “When I talk about the New Hospitals Programme, I’m typically talking about 10 years of work between where we are now and new facilities [opening].”

But he stressed that there were “caveats” – not least, the outcome of the current government’s review.

Now, under the new timetable, it is possible that the first bricks will not be laid until the tail end of the next decade – which would push the opening dates well into the 2040s.

The completion of the review comes less than two months after the NHS in Lancashire and South Cumbria announced that it had bought two sites where it is proposing to build the new Preston and Lancaster hospitals – while stressing it had an “exit strategy” should the government funding not ultimately be forthcoming.

A public engagement exercise to get residents’ opinions on the proposed new locations – off Stanifield Lane in the Farington area of South Ribble, for the Royal Preston and at Bailrigg, near Lancaster University, for the Royal Lancaster – began last week. No final decisions have been taken and the NHS in the region says it is still open to suggestions of other possible sites.

The Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Board has been approached for comment on the government’s announcement regarding the new timeline for delivery of the two facilities.

Reacting to the revised timetable for the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, Lancaster and Wyre MP Cat Smith said: “It’s right that the government needs to be nimble and respond to the discovery of RAAC [concrete at risk of collapse] in other hospitals – and prioritise buildings that are structurally more vulnerable than ours.

“I hope the extra lead-in time will enable us to have a more thorough consultation and plan to build the best possible hospital to meet the needs of north Lancashire and south Cumbria.”

Promises, promises

In his statement in the Commons on Monday afternoon, Wes Streeting accused the Conservatives of “making promises that they never intended on keeping” about when new hospitals – and other facilities he said were wrongly labelled as such – would be open. He said Labour had put the New Hospitals Programme on a firm financial footing and given the public “an honest, realistic, deliverable timetable that they can believe in”.

However, Tory shadow health secretary Edward Agar said Labour were guilty of making “all sorts of promises…to win power”.

“He added: “The Secretary of State was quoted in the Evening Standard [newspaper] in June of last year saying…’We are committed to delivering the New Hospitals Programme.’

“But these are seemingly hollow words now those hospitals are at risk, with investments and upgrades that they deserve pushed back, in some cases, potentially to start as late as 2039.”

How to have your say on the new Royal Preston and Royal Lancaster hospitals

The engagement survey can be taken here.

To complete the survey by phone or to request a hard copy to complete and send back by post, call 0300 373 3550 or email [email protected]

Public engagement events will be held at:

***Lancaster Town Hall – Monday 3rd February, 5.30pm to 7pm

***Chorley Football Club – Wednesday 5th February, 5.45pm to 7.15pm

***Morecambe Football Club – Wednesday 12th February, 5.30pm to 7pm

***Preston Grasshoppers – Friday 14th February, 10am to 11.30am

***The Forum, Barrow – Wednesday 19th February, 5.30pm to 7pm

***Farington Lodge, Leyland – Monday 3rd March, 5.30pm to 7pm

***Cotton Court, Preston – Saturday 8th March, 2pm to 3.30pm

***Lancaster University – Friday 14th March, 10am to 11.30am

***Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal – Thursday 20th March, 10am to 11.30am

Subscribe: Keep in touch directly with the latest headlines from Blog Preston, join our WhatsApp channel and subscribe for our twice-a-week email newsletter. Both free and direct to your phone and inbox.