FAQs

Outline planning permission was granted for the new hospital in November 2021.

Work to demolish disused buildings to prepare the ground for the new hospital was completed in May 2022.

Phase one of construction started in summer 2024 when work began on the first of two multi-storey car parks which must be competed before work on the new hospital itself can begin.

Subject to full approval by national government, we expect construction on the new Whipps Cross Hospital to start in 2026 and be completed in 2030.

The overall capital requirement for the the new hospital will be informed by the detailed design work that underpins the development of the Outline Business Case. This will then be subject to approval by national government.

The new hospital will maximise clinical space and use advanced technology to reprovide andenhance existing services, including maternity and a 24-hour emergency department. More peoplewill be seen and treated on the same day. For patients who are admitted, at least 70% of inpatientbeds will be in single-occupancy rooms.

With a flexible and modern design the new hospital will be easier to find your way around, be able to adapt to changing levels of demand.

As the the new hospital will be much taller it will reprovide and enhance services on a much smaller footprint. This provides an opportunity to redevelop the wider site to provide new homes, create new parks and green spaces, and provide greater flood protection.

As part of our plans, we have outline planning permission for up to 1,500 new homes, 50% of which will be affordable. There will also be up to 5,000sqm of retail, retaurant/cafe and community space.

As part of our commitment to the environment we will create 58,500sqm of newly planted publicly accessible green spaces, the equivalent of around 8 football pitches.

Through planting and other measures we will improve biodiversity by 10% on the site and install new flood mitigations.

The major flooding incident at Whipps Cross in July 2021 once again showed how vulnerable the hospital is to such events. 

Our flood prevention plans include incorporating green roofs and attenuation tanks (which collect and store excess water) to reduce the run-off rate of surface water to avoid overloading drainage systems during heavy rain. There will also be a critical drainage area set aside, including natural ponds, to further improve drainage and increase biodiversity and water quality.

These plans can only be delivered in full through the redevelopment of the hospital and the wider Whipps Cross site.

Our plans include the flexibility to provide up to 600 overnight inpatient beds should that prove necessary. That's more beds than in the current hospital.

We will keep reviewing this during the planning and construction phases to make sure that when the new hospital opens it meets local demand for healthcare.

Specialist inpatient end-of-life care at Whipps Cross is provided in the Margaret Centre unit and on an increasing number of acute wards. The Margaret Centre and these wards have all been recognised for their outstanding levels of care, having been awarded the nationally-recognised Gold Standard Framework.

However, the Margaret Centre building itself presents certain challenges due to its original design as a paediatric care facility. The rooms are smaller compared to modern standards and those found in the main hospital and the external stand-alone nature of the building poses difficulties for patient transfers during inclement weather conditions. The clinical and operational teams are actively working with the hospital estates team to enhance the décor of the rooms, although this will not address the size limitations or the absence of ensuite facilities, which are preferred by clinicians, patients and their families.

With significantly more single occupancy rooms, we should be confident that further improvements to specialist palliative and end-of-life care will be enabled by the new Whipps Cross Hospital - through provision of this type of care on all acute wards - with or without an additional dedicated specialist unit.

Yes. We're also planning for the site to be easier to get to using many different transport options.

In line with local and regional policy we are aiming to reduce reliance on car use to the hospital to support a significant reduction in car parking spaces at the hospital over several years.

To do this, we are developing an active travel plan to encourage our staff to use alternative transport options - including walking, cycling and public transport - to support a gradual reduction in car use and a consequent reduction in the overall demand for car parking spaces.

We are also discussing with local partners, including Transport for London, the opportunities for improving public transport, particularly bus connections.

Our car parks will be fully accessible for disabled drivers and their passengers and have electric charging points.  There will also be dedicated drop off/pick up facilities making access simpler, safer, and as practical as possible.