When will struggling hospital actually be rebuilt?

Before work can start on a long-discussed new hospital in Norfolk a lot of preparation is needed.

The scheme to replace King's Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital took another baby step forward last week with the announcement that a 14.6 hectare (36.5 acres) site had been purchased for contractors to use while the build is under way.

Before that can start though the current surface level car park, where the new hospital will be built, needs to be replaced with a new multi-storey car park.

In the meantime, patients from Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire continue to be treated in a hospital held up by props, and affected by crumbling reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac).

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) was built in the 1980s and was expected to last for 30 years.

Nearly 80% of the building is made from Raac — a cheap, light material the safety of which has been under scrutiny in recent years.

When Raac beams and joists began to fail at the QEH, they were propped up despite safety concerns.

The hospital states it currently has 8,598 steel and timber support props in 56 areas across wards, waiting areas, clinic rooms and offices.

Safety reviews were undertaken and some clinical spaces closed.

While this happened, the hospital was named the worst in the country in government tables and its maternity services were added to a national review of care.

In May 2023, it was announced by the then Conservative Health Secretary Stephen Barclay that the QEH should be rebuilt by 2030.

The election of Labour in July 2024 led to that decision being reviewed.

By August, it was reconfirmed that the hospital would be one of those rebuilt, with the work being a priority, because of the concrete problem.

By then questions were asked as to whether or not it would be safe for the hospital to stay open past 2030, the date at which the building would be at the end of its life.

An independent review was carried out on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in 2025 and it concluded the hospital could stay open if measures were taken to mitigate the risks of Raac.

Just after that happened in November 2025, the hospital's plan, known as the strategic outline case, was accepted by DHSC.

Before work could start, the helipad needed to be relocated and a new multi-storey car park built.

Only then could the old car park site be transformed into a state-of-the-art seven-storey "smart hospital".

The helipad was relocated in January 2026.

Work is expected to begin on the new 1,335-space car park in June 2026, which will be close to the entrance of the hospital site opposite the new community diagnostic centre.

The latest league tables rate the QEH as the second-worst performing hospital in the country, with Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust taking the bottom spot.

With building work in the pipeline, there are signs of improvements in waiting times and care as well.

However, a survey of maternity care at the hospital highlighted six areas where significant improvements had been made.

The contractor compound purchase has been described as an "important step" in the preparation for the new hospital by project director Peter Cox.

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