Savings bring big spending on NHS projects in region

A NEW state-of-the-art children’s medical unit will be built in North Yorkshire while another regional hospital enjoys an £8m revamp as part of a major new investment programme in the NHS.

The Government announced yesterday that £26.7m will be spent on a new dedicated paediatric facility at Scarborough General Hospital, large enough to care for around 5,000 in-patients, as well as an upgrade on coronary care and therapy services.

A further £8m will be spent overhauling the ageing 1960s exterior of Hull Royal Infirmary, a faded 13-storey tower block which has been swathed by scaffolding and netting for the past four years.

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The investment is part of a £330m capital funding boost for the NHS announced last night as under-fire Health Secretary Andrew Lansley moves to spend his department’s allotted money before the end of the financial year.

Mr Lansley said efficiency measures in the financial year were so successful the Department of Health would otherwise have seen a significant underspend.

“This is another great example of how this Government’s drive to be more efficient is benefiting patients,” he said. “By reinvesting the money, we have saved we are able to put over £330n into projects that will help over two-and-a-half million patients per year.” The announcement of a new paediatric unit will come as a welcome boost to Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust, which has been beset by financial difficulties and is now effectively being taken over by York Hospital.

The two-year upgrade of the ageing exterior of Hull Royal Infirmary will also be widely welcomed in the city and beyond.

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Yvette Oade, the hospital’s chief medical officer, said: “For patients and their visitors it is disconcerting to arrive at a building that is covered top to bottom in netting and scaffolding. It hardly offers the kind of reassurance people want when they are coming for a procedure or to visit a loved one.

“We are really pleased that the Government has made this money available.”