Background
Salisbury District Hospital is, like many other hospitals, facing a challenging future and must plan for increased pressures on resources, greater efficiency and improved service delivery, with the age of some of the facilities adding to the challenge.
The hospital is in need of urgent reconfiguration and regeneration to meet the challenges of 21st century healthcare.
In particular, the most pressing concern is the day surgery unit. This currently treats approximately 8,000 patients each year, but is beyond its economic asset life and no longer complies with the required health building standards – we believe it is at high risk of imminent failure.
There are also associated demands for more care for older patients and in specialist and technical developments. Aged infrastructure is also having a significant environmental toll, given the age and relative energy efficiency of the buildings.
The hospital has evolved over time, becoming Salisbury’s largest employer, and a pivotal part of the local economy. However, to ensure its long-term sustainability and viability, it needs to reconfigure to make the best of its specialist services and work with other providers in the community to ensure it can deliver an optimum service to the city and surrounding region.
To achieve this, and maintain service levels, will require commitment and support, but will also provide an opportunity to create a more efficient, practical resource that is fit for the future. This will include provision of education, social and environmental elements as well as health care and delivery.
It is therefore vital that the existing healthcare facilities are reinvigorated and extended. One of the key priorities will be to create a new elective care centre – to replace the existing day surgery unit – which will help to address waiting lists.
About the project
This hospital-led project plans to integrate the existing hospital facility with a potential range of other services designed to complement health care.
It plans to integrate with the existing main hospital facility, with the environment and community at the core, offering a range of new facilities for:
- health and wellbeing
- education / skills / training
- research and development
- making best use of the public estate in Salisbury
It offers a significant number of social, economic, employment / attainment and growth benefits to Salisbury.
The aim is to help Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust attract, develop and retain future talent and become a centre able to create independent revenues.
The early stages of the planning process are being progressed and much of the preparatory work has already taken place.
Priorities
The hospital provides an important role in education, research and development, and life sciences. However, its building stock, out of date layout and facilities, are unable to match the hospital’s operations and potential.
The purpose of the project is to equip the hospital for its future and enable its growth.
The project will reconfigure the outdated and congested site, to provide new and improved environmentally sustainable facilities in a designed landscape setting, to include:
- a new elective care centre (to replace the existing day surgery unit)
- maternity and neonatal intensive care suite
- cancer unit
- accommodation for people with dementia
- research and development
- net zero carbon initiatives
- keyworker accommodation
This will all be provided in sustainable, flexible and shared buildings.
Rationale
We want to position Salisbury District Hospital at the forefront of healthcare, integrating other services and working with other partners to create a modern, sustainable centre, which can serve the community’s changing needs.
The aim is to help the hospital thrive and succeed, with the resources to attract and retain talented people and the ability to create independent revenues.
It’s also about remodelling and facilitating the changes needed to bring the approach to clinical care up to date, including how it is delivered to patients over the next decade. Moreover, it is about creating a sustainable development that is environmentally friendly, using innovation and technology to lead the way in healthcare of the future.
Economic Regeneration
Salisbury District Hospital is at the heart of the community: this project is about creating educational, economic, social, infrastructure and environmental benefits as well as health.
As one of the city’s largest employers, with over 4000 directly employed and a further 2000 in the supply chain, the hospital is pivotal to the local and regional economy.
The aim is to help local health and care services attract, develop, and retain future talent and support and improve the education and training offering in Wiltshire and surrounding area.
Incorporating education and training into the project’s plans will also enhance the adult education provision in Salisbury and the region helping to drive forward the local economy.
Salisbury is deeply in need of economic regeneration and this scheme could be a vital catalyst to its recovery and future success.
Covid-19 also had a significant impact on the city, and this project would bring significant construction and supply chain jobs, as well as in the longer term, new health, education and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers once complete. In addition to the core health related jobs, the hospital offers numerous positions that support the vital day to day functioning of the hospital, these range from facilities management, computing and IT, business and financial management, building trades and project management. Being able to offer better training in new highly skilled jobs is a key benefit of the HEAT Project.
Timelines
The project was launched to the public in March 2019. Since the launch the development team have been undertaking feasibility studies and consultations with hospital staff, the community, other providers and local businesses to help refine proposals. The hospital finalised its business case for phase 1 of the project in early 2022.
In May 2022, a request for pre-application advice was submitted to Wiltshire Council, allowing initial engagement with the Local Planning Authority and statutory consultees to further inform the design making process.
By November 2023, the planned hospital development was included as a specific policy allocation in Wiltshire Council’s Draft Local Plan, which was subsequently agreed by Wiltshire Council and formally submitted to the Secretary of State in December 2024. The project will now undergo an Examination in Public (EiP); this is likely to commence later in 2025 and will be conducted by an appointed planning inspector.
Pre-application advice for the initial element of phase 1 is expected to be submitted in mid 2025, followed by a full planning application at the end of the year.
Meanwhile, progress has already been visible on the hospital site with the construction of Imber Ward and extensive improvements to the Trust’s sustainability approaches. The ward was funded through the national Elective Recovery Fund, and while not directly part of the HEAT Project, it aligns with the overarching master plan and allows for a staged replacement of buildings.
You can find out about the timescale on the timeline page.
The Frequently Asked Questions page has more information on the project.