Work is progessing on the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (RCHT)’s promised Women and Children’s Hospital in Truro, as campaigners call for the Labour government to give the scheme its firm backing.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting suggested upon taking office last year that the £291 million unit was one of those in jeopardy due to economic pressures.

But following letters of agreement from the New Hospital Programme and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), work can go ahead immediately on relocating the cardiac department from the Link Corridor to Trelawny Wing, and firming up the critical electrical infrastructure to ensure electrical resilience on the Treliske site until at least 2050.

Women’s and Children’s Hospital
(Submitted)

“Our scheme was already in an early NHP cohort because of the cramped conditions and poor state of the Princess Alexandra Wing, and it’s widely recognised that our new hospital is desperately needed,” said RCHT chief executive officer Steve Williamson.

“In this respect, and considering the most recent funding news, we are confident that RCHT remains on course to deliver a new Women and Children’s Hospital for the people of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.”

As well as investing £15.5-million over four years on preliminary work including design and planning, demolishing existing buildings, creating a contractors’ compound and car parking reprovision, RCHT has also spent two years on the Silent Hospital pilot project, exploring how digital innovation can transform the physical environment.

“This kind of transformation work will be an essential feature in the development of our new buildings,” said Roberta Fuller, RCHT’s Women and Children’s Hospital programme director.

Protesting outside the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro and Falmouth Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokesperson Ruth Gripper said: “This project is vital to give patients and staff in Cornwall the facilities they deserve. The building is old and tired and in desperate need of upgrading. The longer it gets delayed, the more it is costing our local NHS.”

LibDem campaigners including Ruth Gripper (front) call for clarity over the new women's unit at Treliske
LibDem campaigners including Ruth Gripper (front) call for clarity over the new women's unit at Treliske (LDRS)

Jayne Kirkham, Labour MP for Truro and Falmouth, said she had received confirmation from the Health Secretary that he is committed to the unit.

“I have actively and intently been pressing him at every opportunity to confirm the project will proceed in a timely way,” she said. “There may be rephasing of the funding, but I have been assured it is very much a project that this government is committed to.”

Ms Kirkham continued: “Mothers would be able to stay with their premature babies at the hospital. That is currently very difficult as there isn’t the space. Operations people would previously have had to travel out of county for could be done on site.

“Women should not be wheeled between buildings in emergencies, or taken miles away for operations that could be performed in Cornwall.”

She added: “Even when I had my baby there 19 years ago, men were drilling at the ceiling in the four-bed maternity ward where I was trying to sleep with my newborn son. Cornwall deserves better, and has done for years.”