New £10m Hythe and Dibden hospital to officially open to patients in November
THE £10m replacement Hythe and Dibden War Memorial Hospital is to officially open to patients in mid-November – five months behind schedule.
The new facility, which is being led by construction group Kier on behalf of the NHS Property Services, has fallen behind its planned completion in June.
A spokesperson for the NHS told the A&T: "We are now a matter of weeks away from the completion of the Hythe and Dibden War Memorial Hospital following an unfortunate but unavoidable delay to the original delivery date.
"This resulted primarily from the well-documented building supply chain issues that have been ongoing since the start of the pandemic, including the supply of steel, bricks and roofing supplies, as well as some changes to the internal configuration of the building which needed to be made."
They added: "We look forward to handing the building over next month in readiness for it opening to patients in mid-November and are confident that both our NHS colleagues and the local community will be thrilled with this fantastic new facility."
The site is run by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.
The hospital closed to patients in 2016 following a review which found the buildings were in a poor and unacceptable condition.
Services at the hospital will include physiotherapy, musculoskeletal (MSK), orthopaedic choice, ear nose and throat care, a respiratory clinic, an older persons mental health (OPMH) team, podiatry, and bladder, bowel and stoma care.
There will also be various paediatric health services, a heart failure clinic, maternity services, gynaecology, urology, general medicine, ultrasound, leg ulcer care and special care dentistry.
As reported in the A&T, the go-ahead was granted by New Forest District Council in 2018 for a new healthcare facility.
NFDC also recently applied to itself for planning permission to build 22 new affordable homes on part of the site after buying 1.8 acres from the NHS.
The homes would be a mix of flats and houses, all owned by NFDC and rented to tenants on its housing waiting list.
