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King's Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital confident of rebuild announcement

Shaun Whitmore/BBC Wooden props supporting a roofShaun Whitmore/BBC
The roof of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn is being supported by steel and wooden props

The chief executive of a propped-up hospital said she was confident it would get news of a rebuild soon.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, Norfolk, is supported by about 3,000 props but has yet to be listed on a government rebuild programme.

Alice Webster said staff faced daily challenges to maintain the building.

Reiterating the point that it had no "plan B", she added: "I am confident we'll hear very shortly, [so] we won't need to be thinking down that route."

"Clearly we would like an announcement as soon as is possible and to know we are on the shortlist. We will continue to do everything we can," she told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"We continue to lobby and work very closely with our Members of Parliament.

"Hopefully we will get an announcement very soon."

The hospital opened in 1980 - one of seven built using a material called reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), which the NHS estate has promised to remove by 2035.

Jill Bennett/BBC Alice WebsterJill Bennett/BBC
Alice Webster said she was "totally bowled over" by her staff working through the challenges

One hundred areas of the building, including theatre blocks, are supported by props and every public body in west Norfolk has been backing a campaign to get the hospital replaced.

Ms Webster said reviews of the building and testing of props was "like painting the Forth bridge, it's never finished".

Enabling work for a new hospital had already begun and a plan for a multi-storey car park was due to be submitted next month, she added.

Asked if the continued wait frustrated her, she said: "We have challenges every day - we have to be bold, we have to be brave and we have to continue to deliver what is required today.

"I think there is a saying - 'everything comes to he who waits'."

QEH hospital roof help up by props
Four health secretaries have visited the hospital in recent months to see the issues

In 2021, the hospital's deputy chief executive said it would cost £554m to maintain the current building over the next 10 years.

The government previously said an announcement on 40 new hospitals was imminent.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has been asked to comment.

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