{"id":764998,"date":"2026-09-09T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/764998\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T12:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T12:00:25","slug":"work-starts-on-long-awaited-new-shotley-bridge-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/764998\/","title":{"rendered":"Work starts on long-awaited new Shotley Bridge Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n County Durham<\/a> and Darlington<\/a> NHS Foundation Trust said land remediation began on Monday, September 7, preparing the site for the new Consett hospital.\n<\/p>\n

\n The work is expected to take up to 12 months after final contracts were agreed with the developer.\n<\/p>\n

\n The trust said the project remains on track, with construction due to start in mid-2027 subject to final approvals.\n<\/p>\n

\n Matt Graham, acting chief operating officer at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, said: \u201cStarting work on site is an important milestone for the new Shotley Bridge Hospital and a visible sign of the progress being made towards delivering this investment for our communities.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cToday\u2019s work marks the beginning of preparing the site for construction and follows years of planning and development.\n<\/p>\n

\n “While there are still approvals to be secured, we remain on track and continue to work closely with our partners to move the project forward.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n The trust is continuing work on its Final Business Case, which is due to go to NHS England in early 2027.\n<\/p>\n

\n The site work is the latest step in a project years in the making.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Derwent View site was first identified as the preferred location for the replacement hospital in 2018<\/a>, and planning permission was granted in 2023.\n<\/p>\n

\n But the project was later delayed.\n<\/p>\n

\n In January 2024, project leaders acknowledged that the hospital was no longer expected to open in 2025 as originally envisaged, citing wider challenges facing major construction projects and efforts to control rising costs<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n The project received a major boost in January last year when the then Health Secretary Wes Streeting confirmed Shotley Bridge would be included in Wave 1 of the Government\u2019s revised New Hospital Programme<\/a>, with completion set for 2030.\n<\/p>\n

\n The new hospital will bring several healthcare services together in a purpose-built facility for communities around the town and is planned to include a 16-bed in-patient rehabilitation ward and an urgent treatment centre<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n Blaydon and Consett MP Liz Twist welcomed the latest milestone.\n<\/p>\n

\n She said: “We really need this new hospital.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cShotley Bridge is a much-loved hospital, but we need something that is modern, state-of-the-art and accessible.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThanks to all those who have been campaigning for years to see that this new hospital is fulfilled.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n The plans have since been redesigned, moving the in-patient provision from the first floor to the ground floor, and a new planning application will be required.\n<\/p>\n

\n Construction is expected to start in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said land remediation began on Monday, September 7, preparing the site…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-764998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}