Patients, staff, and visitors are being given a glimpse behind the doors of the new children’s and adults hospitals to be built in Leeds.
As preparation of the land at the Leeds General Infirmary site is completed, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has released a concept video fly-through showing how the two new, state-of-the-art hospitals will look.
The new hospitals go beyond the delivery of excellent patient care and are set to transform healthcare for the regional and national population.
The design by architects, Perkins&Will, shows how the two new hospitals – one for adults’ and a new home for Leeds Children’s Hospital – will be brought into one single building, ensuring patients benefit from co-located services.
The new Leeds Children’s Hospital will have its own distinct space and identity and will be purpose-built with children, young people, and their families in mind.
In addition, it will co-locate all inpatient maternity and specialist neonatal services to become the largest single-site maternity centre in the UK, with en-suite single patient rooms giving new mums more privacy and a place for partners to stay.
As well as supporting patients across all levels of care, from outpatient appointments to critical care; the new healthcare facilities will deliver additional theatre capacity to support dedicated daycase surgery that will help to reduce the number of inpatient hospital stays and provide more capacity for those needing more-complex treatments.
Green spaces have also been a key focus of the design and patients and visitors will benefit from an additional multi-storey car park to provide easy access to services.
The investment in the hospitals presents a significant opportunity for the transformation and regeneration of a key city centre site in Leeds and will be a catalyst for the establishment of a new Innovation Village.
Five hectares of land and existing buildings will be unlocked to develop the Innovation Village – which will provide a world-class hub for research, innovation, and technology in health and life sciences.
An independent report conducted by accountancy firm, PwC, estimates that the new development will deliver 3,000 new jobs and provide a boost of up to £11.2bn for the region’s economy – positively supporting the ‘levelling-up’ agenda in the North of England.
This week MPs and other key figures from across the Leeds city region came together at the Houses of Parliament to see the plans for the new hospitals and to hear from trust chairman, Dame Linda Pollard, and chief executive, Sir Julian Hartley, about how the development site is now ready for construction to commence.
They also heard from the Leeds Hospitals Charity about the positive impact the hospitals will have on patients and their families.
Dame Pollard said: “The building of two new hospitals in Leeds is one of the most-important developments in the city for a generation.
“Not only will it bring further improvements in healthcare across the region; it will also play a vital role in regenerating the city centre and drive economic growth across the North.
“And this plan to help ‘level-up’ our region, simply cannot happen without the new hospitals.”
The trust is currently finalising its Outline Business Case, which will be submitted in the coming weeks and is working closely with the Government’s New Hospitals Programme (NHP) team to align with their new programme timelines.