Frequently asked questions

Yes. Both during the construction phase and once each area is operational. We will be able to substantially increase employment opportunities and encourage new and existing enterprises to base themselves in this area. We are committed to local employment and services. 

The Salisbury Foundation Trust (SFT) currently delivers training to staff members at all levels within the organisation in a large range of areas; for example, clinical skills, simulation leadership and management, coaching and mentoring. 

It also provides support to students on placement, junior doctor training, and supports a range of apprenticeships. SFT has partnerships with a large number of universities, colleges and training providers. Local connections include Bournemouth, Winchester, Southampton and Portsmouth. 

The amount of floorspace available for education activities is limited. Investing in education and training is essential and will enable the hospital to deliver a much better and improved service and help us deliver the right level of care using the best technology. 

SFT urgently needs to expand its current facilities to meet current demand. 

This would include office space, a library, one-to-one coaching space, training rooms, a lecture theatre, a ward area and a simulation suite. 

The education element is a key focus of the HEAT project, with the overall aim of helping the hospital thrive and establish itself as a centre of excellence for medical teaching and training alongside its core clinical services. This enhanced focus will develop the resources to recruit and retain talented people in the area, and drive forward the local economy. 

Currently, there are few educational pathways for young people to lead them to Salisbury and fewer reasons to keep them here. By working with higher and further education providers, there could be much greater provision, which would benefit everyone in the city and surrounding region. 

The new university level education facilities will be a specialist site for education and skills. We are currently speaking with potential partners to develop further apprenticeship, undergraduate, postgraduate and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes. 

We are also working with local further education provider Wiltshire College and are exploring opportunities for innovative curriculum design and delivery through shared staffing and facilities. 

A range of education providers will deliver training to staff members in a large range of areas; for example, clinical skills, simulation leadership and management, coaching and mentoring. The prospective range of undergraduate tuition is being assessed with potential education provider partners. 

There is also scope for SFT to act as a knowledge hub, offering education and skills facilities and resources to partners. 

We are exploring options, looking at how we could develop the site into a specialist site for education and skills. We are keen to work with the education sector and establish a collaborative approach to working with other key partners to gauge interest. We want to create a plan for how the site might work in terms of education and training, including the facilities for research and development. 

We are now exploring engagement from the wider education sector to join us in the next stage of the HEAT Project Salisbury and create an education centre that is functional and useable by multiple education providers. 

In addition to education and training opportunities, the proposed new facilities will play a vital role in strengthening the area by enhancing its reputation as a centre for science and technology. This proposed new facilities will complement the existing capabilities at Porton Down, reinforcing the region’s position as a hub for innovation and research of national importance.  

By creating a space that fosters knowledge sharing, skills development, and research collaboration, we aim to drive economic growth and attract investment, ultimately benefiting the wider community and future workforce.

The maternity services and neonatal unit are located in buildings originally built for the Second World War. The required space is not available and the buildings are no longer fit for purpose, meaning care cannot be delivered in the way patients can rightly expect today. 

The development of maternity facilities have been upgraded a number of times, however they require a new building.  The Trust will look to secure national funding to achieve that.  

The Trust’s case for replacing its day surgery unit (DSU) with an elective care centre (ECC) is based on the need to treat more patients, improve the experience for patients having daycase surgery and to reduce waiting times.  

The Trust has secured £5.4m of national funding to develop a design for the ECC and to produce a business case which clearly sets out the rationale for a substantial investment to deliver those outcomes. 

The roads surrounding the hospital can become congested, particularly at peak periods. Any proposed development will need to take this into account and improve the situation. Encouragement of, and provision for, further walking, cycling or use of public transport will make the development more sustainable, and is vital to protecting our environment and improving air quality. 

There is an existing, regular bus shuttle for travel to and from the Park and Ride at Britford to the hospital. We will examine how we can encourage better take up of this service by making it more user and environmentally friendly. 

A green travel plan will also be developed as part of the planning process. A series of trials are underway, and we are looking at re-balancing transport and active travel, such as introducing improved cycle and electric bike routes and minimising car journeys through the introduction of car sharing for staff. 

In addition, the £5.8 million upgrades to Salisbury Railway Station, including sustainable travel facilities such as the bus interchange and new cycle hubs, will improve overall connectivity to the hospital site and promote more sustainable modes of transport. 

Our aim is to reduce reliance on single occupancy car journeys and promote active travel. 

The trials currently taking place across the site aim to establish what works best to encourage the use of carbon-neutral transport. In addition to a significant expansion of the car sharing programme, trials include the introduction of an ANPR system to better control parking, a new secure electric bike hub with charging facilities, and better and safer walking and cycling routes with improved links to the city centre and station. 

The ongoing £5.8 million transformation of Salisbury Railway Station, which includes enhanced cycle hubs and sustainable travel options like a bus interchange, will further integrate the station into the green travel plan.  

These improvements will make the station a more accessible and sustainable transport hub, benefiting both hospital staff and visitors and supporting our goal of reducing car journeys and promoting environmentally friendly travel options. 

Plans for the hospital have been designed to ensure that the redeveloped site will have the same number of parking spaces as it currently has.

The parking will be designed and overseen by specialist transport advisors to ensure that it is in line with best practice and guidance. 

We are discussing this with the transport company to try to improve the existing provision. 

There are quite a few hospital staff who cycle to work, and SFT will continue to encourage this by providing improved amenities. This will include additional showers and lockers for staff and secure storage for bikes. 

As part of the initial feasibility study, an assessment of the character and quality of the landscape has been undertaken. 

The development is being guided by a landscape-led strategy designed to minimise its visual impact on the surrounding area. This approach has influenced the location, scale and massing of individual buildings, ensuring they are carefully positioned to reduce visibility from key viewpoints. A new landscape strategy focused on enhancing the setting of the development will be a fundamental part of the design ensuring that it blends with the surrounding landscape. 

Phase one will be entirely located within the land around the existing hospital and has been carefully designed to ensure that any changes to views from the city and surrounding countryside are limited. 

In addition, the new landscape will be designed to better integrate with the buildings, giving the hospital a new sense of place. 

While the existing hospital is principally sited on rising ground with some buildings visible from the city and public viewpoints, much of the land surrounding the hospital slopes gently away from the main built areas in a series of ridges and valleys. Any future phasing of the development will also be restricted in height and massing to ensure that important views are preserved. 

In addition, landscape proposals will be developed in conjunction with nature conservation organisations, to ensure increased public access and increase the city’s green space provision.  

The hospital is sited in an area where some of the surrounding land is afforded environmental protection through planning policy. These include an archaeological site to the north, a National Landscape (formerly known as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) to the south and views of Salisbury Cathedral amongst others. We take our commitment to preserving and enhancing the natural and historic environment extremely seriously. 

We will continue to work closely with organisations such as Natural England, Historic England and the Environment Agency to ensure there are mitigation measures in place, both during construction and operation. As part of the process of seeking planning permission for the HEAT Project master plan, full account of both the man-made and natural environment will be taken into consideration, supported by appropriate surveys and studies which will look at all aspects of the development and how to enhance and protect the environment. 

We are committed to ensuring sensitive and sustainable development. We will work in partnership with organisations such as Wiltshire Wildlife Trust to share survey information gathered to schedule and record the species and habitats on our site, creating, mitigating, restoring or preserving habitats and importantly, provide greater public access. Ecological surveys are ongoing as part of this. Improving biodiversity on the hospital estate is a key project aim. 

Biodiversity will be at the heart of the new landscape plan and we are committed to achieving a minimum 10% Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) in line with policy requirements. Incorporating sustainable building technology green energy, will ensure the development will respect the setting and landscape. 

None, as the development will primarily take place on the existing hospital site, there will be no impact on ancient monuments or heritage.  

The NHS aspires to be net zero by 2040.  The ambition for the redevelopment of the hospital is to create a site that not only has buildings that are zero carbon, but to create a site that is fully zero carbon in its operations. There are a number of trials and initiatives that are being considered to enable this and we hope to share details of these soon.

The Local Plan has been an important consideration in shaping our development proposals. 

It is anticipated that a detailed planning application for the initial development of phase one of the project will be submitted in late 2025. If this is approved, work could begin once funding is agreed. For further information on timescales, please click here. 

Additionally, development of the replacement Elective Care Centre is taking place in tandem, with enabling works beginning at the end of 2025 and construction starting on site in April 2026. While distinct from the wider HEAT project, the Elective Care Centre is a core component, led by Salisbury Hospital, with Salutem leading on the other project elements. 

Yes, absolutely. We will be seeking the views from residents, the local community, business and the wider public at each of our exhibitions. These views will be used to shape our plans, as they develop. We have already taken the feedback received at our events and have incorporated this into our plans. 

Please keep an eye on our events page for details of our next webinar event or public exhibitions. 

We always welcome feedback on our plans. Please contact us to get in touch 

The hospital is not a modern building, and the community’s requirements have evolved over time. Like all hospitals, we have to prioritise the use of capital funds available to the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust each year. 

This has meant that in the past we have had to adopt an incremental approach towards refurbishment. However, to ensure long-term sustainability and viability (many of the current buildings are incapable of being upgraded to achieve net zero), the hospital now has to take action and embark upon major reconfiguration. This is based on a real need – we can no longer just do refurbishment on a piecemeal basis. 

We want to position Salisbury District Hospital at the forefront of integrated healthcare, working with others to create a modern centre which serves the community’s changing needs. The opportunity to secure funding over a longer period will provide the Trust and its partners with the means to achieve this outcome. 

Significant progress has already been made, with the hospital development included in Wiltshire Council’s draft Local Plan and an outline application for Phase 1 expected in late 2025. Additionally, the construction of Imber Ward demonstrates the ongoing commitment to delivering the hospital’s long-term vision 

We will announce plans for the next stage of public consultation on our website and will integrate the views expressed into the evolving design well before submitting a planning application. This will provide further details of phase one of the planning application.  

Patient safety and service continuity remain our top priorities throughout the redevelopment. To minimise operational impact, the initial phase of construction will take place on the existing surface car park– this is to allow the existing healthcare buildings to continue to function, while new buildings are developed. 

The hospital is highly experienced in managing complex projects while keeping essential services running smoothly and we have robust plans in place to ensure minimal disruption to patients and staff. 

We are exploring options to address the temporary loss of these car parking spaces and expect to be able to provide all, if not most, of these spaces again as the project progresses. 

At this stage the funding options for the development are still being considered. It cannot be determined until the proposals are more advanced.

There will be construction traffic which will be managed by a construction management plan to be agreed with Wiltshire Council. The ongoing work that the hospital is undertaking to reduce single occupancy car journeys will mitigate operational traffic.  

Noise mitigation measures during construction will also be agreed with the local authority. The hospital is particularly mindful of the need to minimise noise and disruption to patients.