£35.8 million awarded to modernise our hospitals | Our news

Barts Health NHS Trust will receive £35.8 million in loan funding from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to go towards modernising equipment, refurbishing wards and ensuring the safety of buildings.

The loan will be used to support the redevelopment of Whipps Cross Hospital, carry out general maintenance across the trust and help to develop the Barts Life Sciences programme. In particular it will be used to:

• Carry out fire safety works across all hospitals (£6.1m)
• Essential maintenance across the Estate (8.1m)
• Move IT networks onto the cloud and other IT infrastructure developments (£7.6m)
• Replace ageing medical equipment (£2.2m)
• Refurbish two operating theatres at Whipps Cross (£1.2m)
• Replace CT scanners at Whipps Cross and other imaging (£2.9m)
• Complete the refurbishment of operating theatres at the Barts Health Orthopaedic Centre at Newham Hospital (£0.6m)
• Support the WX Strategic Outline Case for the Whipps Cross redevelopment (£1.5m)
• Other developments across the Sites (£5.6m)

Bill Boa, Chief Finance Officer at Barts Health, said: “We are continually striving to improve all services and facilities for our patients, and this loan will go a long way in helping us to make that happen. The modernisation of our hospitals, alongside other developments across the trust, will enable us to provide a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and delivering safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond.”

The loan is part of a £184 million package of capital loan funding from DHSC shared with 12 other trusts in England.

The loans will ensure that trusts are able to upgrade critical infrastructure and maintenance on buildings, as well as provide the right equipment for staff to carry out their work and provide better patient outcomes.

Loans are issued at National Loan Fund (NLF) rates, which means the cost is equivalent to the government’s cost of borrowing.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “These loans will make sure hospitals continue to deliver vital services to patients in buildings that are safe and have the right equipment to deliver world-class care. Since July, we have injected £4.8 billion capital funding into the NHS – helping refurbish hospital wards, replace old medical equipment and maintain NHS buildings.”