Four Doncaster MPs unite to press home "desperately needed" repairs to DRI

The city had been earmarked for a new hospital under the last Conservative Government, with former PM Boris Johnson saying that Doncaster was, “very much in the running,” for a new hospital.

However, earlier this year Conservative health minister Lord Markham announced there would be no money for a new hospital until “at least 2034.”

Now Doncaster MPs Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central), Ed Miliband (Doncaster North), Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and Isle of Axholme) and John Healey (Rawmarsh and Conisbrough) have taken up the baton with the new Labour government.

In a joint statement they said: “The four Doncaster MPs are working together to support our Doncaster NHS.

"We met with Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Teaching Hospitals Foundation trust Chief Executive Richard Parker, and trust chair Suzy Brain to discuss Labour’s plans for the NHS and the repair backlog at Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

"We will take this message back to the Department of Health. We are determined to fight for the local improvements we desperately need.”

A new hospital promised by the previous Government to replace crumbling DRI was rejected in 2022.

Last year, then MPs Dame Rosie Winterton (Doncaster Central), Ed Miliband and Nick Fletcher (Conservative, Don Valley) said: "After the huge blow of not getting a new hospital, the people of Doncaster need our existing hospital brought up to decent standards.”

Since the summer of 2019, Doncaster Council and Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Teaching Hospitals Trust have been working on proposals to redevelop the Doncaster Waterfront area adjacent to Doncaster College for a new hospital, with Mayor Ros Jones previously saying the site was ready to go.

Doncaster Royal Infirmary was initially built in the 1930s, with further development and expansion in the 1960s and 1980s but due to the hospital’s age, there are around 600 outstanding maintenance jobs across DRI’s numerous buildings, with an estimated value of £118 million.

The estimated cost of a new hospital would be around £1.37 billion and would take around five years to complete.