Work is now underway to prepare a site in Consett for the new Shotley Bridge hospital, but the project has yet to receive full business case approval.
Steve Russell, chief executive of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, was pressed on the hospital at a Durham County Council scrutiny meeting on Friday (October 16).
“In terms of the timetable, the land will take 12 months, so there won’t be kind of spades in the ground until the land remediation is complete,” Mr Russell said.
“The timetable is currently 2029, but I can’t really guarantee it will be 2029 because there’s a set of unknowns.”
Chief executive of the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, Steve Russell (Image: Chris Booth/NORTHERN ECHO)
It comes after years of delays to the project – the Derwent View site was selected in 2018 – and the scheme has subsequently faced continuing cost pressures.
Mr Russell told councillors the trust remained optimistic about the hospital.
“We’re spending a chunk of public money on that, and we wouldn’t do that if we didn’t think there would be a good chance. Now it’s not a guarantee, but we wouldn’t do that,” he said.
“We don’t have any fixed price yet. Building inflation is probably the biggest risk for this project. It’s the same for everything. And that is a very volatile environment at the moment for obvious reasons.”
The hospital is currently budgeted at £63m in central government funding, but Mr Russell set out three options if the eventual cost exceeds that figure.
(Image: Project Genesis)
He said the trust could look again at the design to find savings, seek additional money through the New Hospital Programme, or fund part of the additional cost through its own capital programme.
However, he said the final option was “very unlikely to be achievable” as the trust’s funding budget sits at around £13m and is mostly needed to replace equipment.
Mr Russell also revealed some elements of the hospital design are still being considered.
(Image: NHS)
These include potentially providing space for primary care services and looking at chemotherapy provision as more treatment becomes possible in patients’ homes.
Earlier reports said the hospital project had been redesigned, including moving its inpatient accommodation from the first floor to the ground floor.
The previous planning permission also expired in 2024, meaning a new application would be required.
The government confirmed in January 2025 that Shotley Bridge would progress as part of wave one of the revised New Hospital Programme.