Exclusive:Wes Streeting unable to 'guarantee' Airedale Hospital RAAC rebuild will be finished by 2030
The Health Secretary has said his team are going “hell for leather” to renovate crumbling Airedale General Hospital, however he could not guarantee everything would be completed by the 2030 safety deadline.
In a wide-ranging interview, Wes Streeting told The Yorkshire Post that “we are doing everything we possibly can to make that the case”.
The Keighley hospital and the Leeds General Infirmary were both part of the Conservatives’ controversial New Hospital Programme, first announced by Boris Johnson.
A building housing a state-of-the-art adults hospital, a new children’s hospital and a maternity centre was due to be constructed on the site of LGI and open in 2030, costing more than £650m.
A complete rebuild had been ordered for Airedale General Hospital by 2030, which was found to be at risk of collapse due to its construction with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Both these projects have been delayed, with Mr Streeting, telling the House of Commons that the programme “was unfunded and undeliverable”.
Earlier this, Mr Streeting allocated funds for the projects and the new timeline means construction will start on Airedale General Hospital in 2027 or 2028, and on the LGI development between 2032 and 2034.
However, concerns have been raised by Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore that the work will not be completed by the 2030 deadline, at which point parts of the site could be declared unsafe.
On a visit to Leeds this week, The Yorkshire Post asked the Health Secretary if he could guarantee the work would be finished by 2030.
Mr Streeting responded: “We’re going hell for leather on Airedale.
“One of the things we're trying to do is to make sure that with some of the planning and all of the groundwork and preparation that's needed, that we go through that part of the process as fast as possible, with that 2030 milestone in mind.”
However, the Health Secretary admitted that he could not promise all of the work would be complete by 2030.
He said: “Will everything be finished and done and dusted in 2030?
“I can't absolutely 100 per cent guarantee it will all be done, but I can absolutely tell you, we are doing everything we possibly can to make that the case.”
Mr Moore, the local Conservative MP, responded: “That sounds like a politician’s way of saying ‘no’, which is yet another example of this so-called government of change saying one thing and doing another.
“Our new hospital cannot wait a day beyond that 2030 deadline and it is clear the government must immediately fast-track our new hospital to protect the future of healthcare services across the Aire Valley.”
The Department for Health and Social Care said it is looking to “expedite the delivery of these schemes [which are affected by RAAC] wherever possible, focussing on the most affected buildings first, followed by the unaffected parts of existing hospitals”.
Mr Streeting has also commissioned an updated safety report on Airedale and other hospitals impacted by the crumbling concrete, which is due to report this summer.