The revamped Northgate Hospital in Morpeth - one of the Conservative Government's flagship "40 new hospitals" - is set to open in July.
Work on the project is set to finish in June, with an official opening coming the following month. The hospital - operated by the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust - has been redeveloped and extended over the last three years, following a successful application for planning permission in late 2019. It caters for patients with learning difficulties and mental health needs.
In October 2020, the Government confirmed Northgate would be among the 40 projects funded by the new hospital programme. Though throughout it has engendered controversy as to how "new" those hospitals are - given many, like Northgate - are redevelopments of existing sites.
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This comes as health secretary Steve Barclay admitted last weekend that some of the 40 projects will actually be refurbishments of existing sites rather than entirely new hospitals. A revamped Shotley Bridge Hospital in County Durham received planning permission in March and is the only other North East project on the official Government list.
A bid for funding to build the new Richardson Wing at the Royal Victoria Infirmary has thus far been unsuccessful.
At a Board of Governors meeting of the CNTW Trust, chief executive James Duncan said: "The main hospital at Northgate is due to be completed in June and will be operational in July." Mr Duncan said it would be a "absolutely great facility".
Hospital board chair Ken Jarrold encouraged governors to take up opportunities to visit the new facilities and said: "It's one of the biggest capital schemes in mental health in the NHS great implications for us for further stages on this site."
The work has been part of the trust's £72 million CEDAR programme (Care Environment Development and Re-provision), dealing with the redevelopment of its estates. The Northgate Hospital was slated to cost £60m and featured the sale of land for homes as a partial way of funding this.
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