Council to continue to press for new Doncaster hospital despite snub

Doncaster Council will continue to press Government for fuding a new hospital along the town centre’s Waterfront, Mayor Ros Jones has said.
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A site close to Doncaster College along Waterfront has been chosen for a potential new hospital, which would also include a medical research and university centre.

Doncaster Royal Infirmary.Doncaster Royal Infirmary.
Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

The council and other key partners have been told by Government that a further eight bids for new hospitals will be welcomed and Doncaster are being urged to apply.

The mayor said it was ‘time for Governement to get serious’ about levelling up places like Doncaster.

The current Doncaster Royal Infirmary, originally built in 1930, is in need of major maintenance works worth £67 million, and faces significant demand, as NHS workers treat people with the coronavirus.

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Prior to Covid-19, the A&E department which was built to manage a peak of 200-250 patients was routinely dealing with 350-400 every day.

Ros Jones is Doncaster's directly-elected mayor Ros Jones is Doncaster's directly-elected mayor
Ros Jones is Doncaster's directly-elected mayor

Mayor Jones said: “There’s eight more hospitals that can be bid for and we’ve been told to make sure we get our bid in but we’re extremely disappointed because it’s not just about a new hospital it’s about regeneration and training.

“We want Government to demonstrate this levelling up agenda that keeps being highlighted.

“We will keep pressing Government on this, Doncaster is now a training hospital trust and we want to bring all those skills to the borough get the training happening and get the university centre.

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“If we centralise it on the Waterfront, that would be the ideal place for the building go up to meet the needs of the borough and beyond.

“We have the ideal location with the Waterfront but it needs large sums of money from Government to bring it to fruition and it adds to the economic regeneration of the borough.”

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