In a statement to the House of Commons, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves set out a review of the national New Hospital Programme, which Derriford Hospital’s Urgent and Emergency Care Facility is part of.

In a Treasury paper published following the Chancellor’s statement, the government outlined that it “is undertaking a full and comprehensive review of the programme while continuing to deliver the most advanced and most urgent hospitals to a realistic timeframe”.

In response, the Trust’s Future Hospital Director Stuart Windsor said: “We are progressing at pace and emphasising our advanced state of readiness for the much needed new Urgent and Emergency Care Facility.

“While the review is in progress, enabling works are well underway and preparations are ongoing for the demolitition of decommissioned theatres to make way for the new building.

“A key part of our enabling works programme is the build of our new Fracture Clinic, adjacent to Derriford Hospital, which will allow the current unit to relocate from its existing footprint, making way for the build of the new facility. We are now on site with this building and it will complete in Spring 2025, when we plan to start the Urgent and Emergency Care Facility build.

“We welcome the outcome of the government review as it is vital that we get timely clarity on funding and approval processes for delivery of this vital scheme.”

Derriford Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Plymouth.

It also provides tertiary cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery and renal transplant surgery for the whole of the South West Peninsula.