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Lucy Gardner, Director of Strategy and Partnerships and Executive lead for the New Hospital’s Programme said:

“We remain extremely grateful to Mr Carter, and indeed all of our MPs, for his continued and proactive support of our New Hospitals Programme.

“The Trust has submitted a proposal to secure one of the last remaining eight places in HMGovernment’s national new hospitals programme which will provide grant funding totalling £3.7billion.

“We believe our scheme is unique in that it will support the regeneration of the towns of Warrington and Runcorn, tackling health inequalities, deprivation and supporting new growth, development and prosperity of the local communities.  This will be through new jobs associated with construction as well as access to multi-professional education, training, and vocational employment.  The commitment to reducing harmful pollution and carbon emissions – to the tune of 11K tonnes per year – is central to planned infrastructure development.

“The new hospitals programme will create two co-dependent acute hospitals with services targeted to local needs addressing deficits in life expectancy. A new purpose-built hospital in Warrington for emergency and unplanned care and women’s and children’s services and a state-of-the-art planned care centre in Runcorn, Halton.  The existing flagship Captain Sir Tom Moore building will be extended to become an outstanding dedicated centre for planned care, taking advantage of its location and accessibility to host services for Halton, Warrington and for the wider Cheshire and Merseyside Region.

“A final decision on the funding of successful bids is expected later this year, meanwhile we remain committed to making the most of our ageing estate and facilities to ensure the people of Warrington and Halton can access the very best care and support when they need it.”