Warwick Hospital extension plans move forward

South Warwickshire NHS Fountation Trust, which manages the hospital, wants to provide up to 60 extra beds at the site in Lakin Road because of a rising population and an increase in the number of older people living in the area.

Around £12 million has been set aside to build a three-storey ward, although the trust may yet opt to build a two-storey, 40-bed extension, which will cost around £9.5 million.

At their most recent planning committee meeting, councillors on the committee voted in favour of the trust knocking down a redundant boiler house and squash court close to the hospital site and building a new three-storey office block in its place. The offices will be the new location for the trust’s estates department, which will need to move out of the main site - which at the moment has 400 beds - to make room for the new ward.

A previous application put forward by the trust had been refused on the grounds that it would not improve the character and quality of the area and would be detrimental to the visual amenities of that area. But the new application had been amended and was accepted at last week’s meeting.

The new ward will come under a separate planning proposal and would be built on the opposite side of Lakin Road.

A trust spokeswoman previously told the Courier and Weekly News that the plans are for the new extension to house speciality wards.

She added: “The trust needs to build this additional capacity to cope with an increase in demand for healthcare services now and in the future.

“The main reasons for this increase in demand is a year-on-year increase in the size of our population and in particular an increase in older people within south Warwickshire.”