Latest delays to redevelopment of ageing Leytonstone hospital prompt concerns from councillors, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

The proposed new Whipps Cross Hospital and (inset) the existing building

The new Whipps Cross Hospital will not be built until 2036, the NHS announced, as local councillors express disappointment at the delay.

The long-awaited rebuild, first announced in 2019 by the previous Conservative government, was delayed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in January.

Though work is underway on a new multi-storey car park, construction of the new hospital is not expected to start until 2032, ahead of a 2036 completion date. It was initially supposed to be finished by 2030.

The NHS says development of the new hospital has been “paused” but “certainly not abandoned”. Several members of Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs the hospital and has developed the plans for its replacement, are now at risk of redundancy, which could lead to a loss of expertise and “institutional memory”.

The Leytonstone hospital serves around 350,000 people across Waltham Forest, Redbridge and Epping Forest.

Thirty new hospitals in the UK will be delivered in waves, with the most urgently needed built over the next three years, forming ‘wave zero’. Whipps Cross will be delivered as part of ‘wave two’.

The final meeting of the current joint health overview and scrutiny committee (JHOSC), made up of councillors from Waltham Forest and Redbridge, was held last night (Thursday 1st).

Representatives from the NHS said there would be “significant financial implications” for the existing hospital as a result of the latest delay to Whipps Cross.

Nearly £100million has been invested in the hospital since 2015 to tackle backlogs and ensure compliance with fire safety regulations. Each scheme has a lifespan of around 15 years, which were then in line with the initial projects for the rebuild.

Additionally, adjacent land cannot be freed up for 1,500 new homes – at a time when Waltham Forest and Redbridge councils are struggling with housing shortages.

After a brief update from NHS officials, the committee was placed into dormancy for the foreseeable future.

Campaigners from Action4Whipps, a local group, urged the committee to continue its scrutiny of the plans.

They warned that without JHOSC’s oversight, services such as the Margaret Centre, which provides end-of-life care, could become “run down”. Additionally, the councils need to keep an eye on what Barts Health is doing “to make the crumbling Whipps Cross infrastructure safe and fit for purpose” over the next decade.

Waltham Forest councillor Richard Sweden said it would be an “unjustifiable strain” on the council’s resources but the committee will reconvene if “the facts on the ground change”.

As a final action by the committee, Cllr Sweden said he would write to the Department of Health over the “lack of clarity in the decision-making process” behind delaying the hospital.

Thousands signed Waltham Forest Council’s ‘Whipps Won’t Wait’ petition after the hospital was damaged by flooding in 2021, and leader Grace Williams said in January they would be “frustrated after years of delays and disappointment”.

She said a new Whipps Cross Hospital was her “greatest priority” and “cannot wait any longer”.

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