PLANS to redevelop the Ellen Badger Hospital site in Shipston have stalled over funding.
A planning application for the first phase of a project to build a brand new £4.5million medical centre on the site in Stratford Road was given the green light by planning chiefs back in March.
And South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWF) and Shipston Medical Centre were all set to appoint a contractor to carry out the work. This would involve demolishing the old hospital – and one house – and building the new medical and well-being centre in its place.
The redevelopment plans, consisting of some 100 rooms, looked to bring a whole host of facilities such as physiotherapy treatment rooms, specialist nurses and mental health clinicians under one roof, together with a larger medical centre to meet the town’s increasing need.
No information about phase two of the project – involving replacing the hospital’s inpatient beds – was given at the time.
But it has now been revealed in a statement issued by Shipston Medical Centre that costs for the original £4.5million project have suffered an increase of around 50 per cent, and still rising.
A spokesperson for the medical centre continued: “The development of a new medical centre was identified as part of the wider development of an integrated care facility at Ellen Badger Hospital in 2018. The new Medical Centre cost was originally estimated at £4.5million. A steep increase in the cost of construction, materials and associated expenses of the build, caused by factors outside of the control of the practice, has resulted in these costs increasing by almost 50 per cent, and they are continuing to rise.
“This increase in costs means that the new medical centre project is no longer financially viable in its current design. This is extremely disappointing to the partners of the practice who have invested significant amounts of money in the pre-building stage. Our priority remains ensuring the patients of the practice and the people of Shipston and the surrounding areas have access to high quality primary care services and we are working with the Integrated Care Board and South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust to review all available options”.
