Plans confirmed for new £26 million Cromer hospital

The Board of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has approved in principle plans to build a new £26 million hospital in Cromer, it was announced today.

The new hospital will replace the original Mill Road hospital which first opened in 1932. The new hospital will be for out-patients, day case operations, extended diagnostic services, dynamic therapy services and minor injuries care and will be completed in 2011.

The Board of Directors has allocated £12 million of the NHS Foundation Trust’s funds to invest in the new Cromer Hospital to supplement the Bernstein and other legacies that total £14 million. The Board is supporting the option of a more ambitious hospital offering an extended range of services than had previously been planned.

The £26 million project is subject to a full business case which will come back to the board in mid-2009. The project would see the building of a new hospital to include two general anaesthetic operating theatres, an out-patient procedure room and an ophthalmic theatre. New diagnostic services will include permanent on-site mammography (breast screening) and a DEXA scanner for osteoporosis diagnosis as well as facilities for a mobile MRI scanner.

Chairman David Prior said: “As a NHS Foundation Trust we are in the very welcome position of being able to use our new-found financial freedoms to invest money into a long-awaited new hospital for the people of north Norfolk. We believe that local people will benefit from the wider range of services we aim to be able to provide at Cromer from out-patient services, day case surgery, to minor injuries and therapy services.

The Board believes that we need to invest in modern facilities that will meet the needs and expectations of local people, and our staff, and accordingly has committed £12 million to the project. We also remain very grateful for the Bernstein legacy which will help us deliver an exciting new hospital.”

North Norfolk MP, Norman Lamb, said: “I am delighted with this news. It is really positive for North Norfolk residents. It will mean fewer journeys to the Norfolk and Norwich and to have state of the art medical facilities in North Norfolk is a major advance.”

In late 2007 a tendering process lead to the appointment of a Mansell construction team, part of the Balfour Beatty Group. The planning application process is due to start in Autumn 2008, with the full business case going to the Board in mid-2009 and work due to start in the summer of 2009, with completion in 2011.

Sagle Bernstein legacy  – In 2001, the trustees of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust received an £11.4 million legacy left to Cromer Hospital by the late Sagle Bernstein. Mrs Bernstein was a local resident and her sister had been a patient at Cromer Hospital. The value of the legacy, which is held on deposit, currently stands at £13.3 million.