Health Minister, Lord Markham, has revealed construction work on the long-awaited new Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn will begin ‘in a matter of months’.

Lord Markham, who is responsible for the New Hospitals Programme has confirmed the Government’s backing for a new hospital on the existing site as part of a £20bn investment in hospital infrastructure across England.

In a move welcomed by local MPs, he revealed work on construction of a multi-storey car park to create space on site for the new hospital will start shortly.

This is the key enabling project and follows the ongoing move of the helipad, which will create space for the new car park and other enabling works, including utilities.

In a letter to James Wild MP and Rt Hon Liz Truss MP following their recent meeting to review progress on the scheme, which included members of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust and NHS England, Lord Markham said: “I know there have been concerns regarding the site location of this new hospital.

“The trust’s preferred way forward for the site location is to remain on the existing hospital site.

“We support this approach, which is why we are working closely with the trust to build a multi-storey car park to create sufficient space on the site for the new hospital.

“Clearly, we would not be spending tens of millions of pounds on such a car park unless we were committed to the current site and we are starting construction in a matter of months to ensure we meet the 2030 deadline.”

The New Hospital Programme is now working with the trust on its refreshed Strategic Outline Case and the hospital will be part of the Government’s new Hospital 2.0 approach, which Lord Markham said ‘will ensure that onsite construction is quicker than traditional methods of construction and give patients and staff in King’s Lynn access to world-class health facilities’.

Hospitals have been provided with updated indicative allocations from the £20bn programme and the Strategic Outline Case is expected to be submitted to the Department in June 2024.

Wild said: “Having campaigned successfully in Parliament to secure the commitment to a new QEH, my priority is delivering a new hospital by 2030.

“It is very welcome the Government has given staff, patients, and our community certainty plans to meet the 2030 deadline on the existing site are on track with work on the new car park set to start later this year.”

Truss added: “It’s great news that the Queen Elizabeth new hospital build is on track to be open in 2030, on the basis of the current site.

“I am delighted our campaign was successful. It is now important that everyone gets behind this plan at the current location as this is crucial to securing the funding and delivery.”