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'Hospital rebuild is overdue - it needs expansion'

Andrea Pluck
BBC News, Northamptonshire
Reporting fromKettering
BBC Michael Hilderley smiles at the camera as he stands outside a shop front on a pedestrianised street. He is wearing a grey fleece, grey jumper and black T-shirt. He has grey hair. BBC
Michael Hilderley hopes the works will help with overcrowding at the hospital

People have expressed their frustration that construction work on a nearby hospital has been delayed.

Kettering General Hospital (KGH) in Northamptonshire was of 40 hospitals in England that the previous Conservative government pledged to rebuild by 2030.

The Labour government has announced that works will now begin between 2032-34, after funding for the New Hospitals Programme was reviewed.

Initially £500m was earmarked for the rebuild, but Labour has now tripled this figure and between £1bn and £1.5bn will be spent on the project.

The outside of Kettering General Hospital, a blue glass-fronted entrance with "Kettering General Hospital" in large letters.
The government has tripled the funding for the reconstruction of Kettering General Hospital

Michael Hilderley, 64, said he regularly attends KGH and felt the hospital was "bursting at the seams". He hoped that when the rebuilding gets under way it will fix some of the facility's problems.

"[The rebuild] has been on the cards for such a long time and people are having to wait for operations and things like that," he said.

"A&E is absolutely full up and Kettering is so overrun now. The wait is like five hours, and all the time there's more and more people coming in – it needs expansion."

He added that once the work was completed he hoped it "might cure" issues of overcrowding at the hospital.

He said: "It's good that it's coming, but it's been overdue for such a long time."

'More staff needed'

Liz smiles and gives a thumbs up to the camera as she stands on a pavement with a red car driving down the street behind her. She has brown hair and is wearing a black puffer jacket.
Liz says funds for the rebuild project would be better spent on recruiting more NHS staff

Liz, who did not provide her surname, 57, from Kettering, said that an increase in the town's population meant the new hospital had to be "better and bigger".

However, she added, she would prefer to see the government funding used to recruit more NHS staff.

"I think there should be funding to go within the hospital, just to take pressure off the good nurses and doctors because I feel the NHS are doing an amazing job," she said.

"It's alright having these great new buildings, but we need the staff to put in them."

She added: "If I needed to go to hospital I would, quite honestly, say if I had the funds I would go private."

'Hospital needs to be bigger'

Ally Gosling smiles at the camera as she is photographed standing on a pavement in a town centre. She is wearing a large multi-coloured scarf, a green puffer jacket and a brown cross-body bag. She has short grey hair. Behind her is a yellow car driving down the road.
Ally Gosling says the hospital needs to be made "much bigger" to serve the community

Ally Gosling, who lives in Kettering, said the new hospital needed to be "much bigger", but added that more staff would be required to see improvements.

"I think [Kettering] needs a new hospital to be much bigger, with all of the new-build houses going on and the hospital is no bigger.

Ms Gosling added that hospital conditions "aren't good" and that there needs to be more focus on staff wellbeing.

"I think the stress levels need to be decreased for all staff and [the hospital] just needs starting all again really – getting back to basics."

An outside view of Kettering General Hospital building. A multi-storey building with a blue entranceway with "Kettering General Hospital" is large letters above the door. There are two cars parked outside the hospital.
Construction work is not expected to begin until between 2032-34

Laura Churchward, the chief executive of University Hospitals of Northamptonshire, said the delay posed a "significant challenge" in the hospital's plans to deliver "much-needed improvements for the patients and communities" it served.

Ms Churchward added: "While we understand the New Hospitals Programme must be affordable, we are disappointed by [the] decision to delay the next steps in our development programme until 2029-2030.

"Capital investment in infrastructure is vital to the health and wellbeing of people in Kettering. While we await further details, we remain steadfast in our commitment to progress.

"We will continue to build our new Energy Centre by 2027, driving forward the transformation that our hospital needs along with moving ahead on our plans to address the RAAC concrete in our Women's and Children's Unit."

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