Celebrations for new QEH plans

After a long and loud campaign, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn is set to be rebuilt.

The hospital has more than 4,300 steel and timber supports propping up 56 areas of the building.
And the plan is to have the new facility open to patients by 2030.
The hospital has been added to the replacement list along with other RAAC (reinforced, autoclaved aerated concrete) hospitals which were designed with a limited lifespan.
“We’re thrilled that the urgent need for a new QEH has now been recognised and that we have been formally added to the list, along with four other RAAC hospitals who were not, until now, part of the New Hospital Programme,” said a statement from chief executive Alice Webster and trust chairman Chris Lawrence.
“This is excellent news for our patients, our local communities whom we serve, our staff – and is testament to the hard work and campaigning we have done together over the last few years. Your support has been instrumental in securing the essential funding to bring the new hospital we so desperately need,” the statement continued.
Being part of the New Hospital Programme means a new hospital on the same site.
A multi-storey car park is in the planning stage and when built, would free-up the current car park as development space.
“It will take a number of years to go through the necessary planning and approvals process and to build the hospital. The very earliest we would expect a new hospital to open its doors is 2029,” said the statement.
The hospital originally opened in 1980 and is named after the late Queen’s mother.