Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre granted funding for new multi-storey car park plan

Nottingham’s Queen’s Medical Centre has been awarded funding towards preparing work for a new multi-storey car park.

Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH), which runs the hospital, has been granted £370,000 from the Government’s New Hospital Programme.

The works schedule, called ‘Tomorrow’s NUH’, includes a new 1,500-space car park, a new centre for women, children and families, increasing emergency care and improving cancer services.

In 2019, the Government announced plans to build 40 “new hospitals” in England by 2030.

However, the scheme has drawn criticism by claiming it will build 40 entirely new hospitals when many will be extensions or refurbishments of existing buildings.

The independent Government watchdog, the National Audit Office, published a report in July that questioned the plan’s viability.

Funding will be used to update the outline business case for the new car park and predict the number of vehicles needing to use it, the number of electric vehicle charging spaces and other site changes.

Trust bosses said the car park will free up two existing ground-level car parks where new clinical facilities could be built if they are approved.

The money will also be used to fund technical assessments with the National Grid and develop a business case.

Philip Britt, Tomorrow’s NUH programme director, said any proposed changes to the scheme are subject to public consultation and planning permission, which have not yet taken place.

In May, health secretary Steve Barclay announced that the plans have been delayed as “part of a rolling programme where not all work will be completed by 2030”.

NUH is part of Cohort 4, where work will begin within the next two years, and includes a new-build and refurbishment on the Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital sites, which is estimated to cost between £1bn and £2bn.

Work on a new surgical hub and three new operating theatres will also begin.

Mr Britt added: “This funding is vital in paving the way for the future of our hospitals because it allows us to prepare the QMC site ready for the wider Tomorrow’s NUH plans should they be approved following consultation.”