Tomorrow's NUH

Tomorrow's NUH

“Working with patients, staff and partners, we will use this exciting once-in-a-generation opportunity of investment through the Government’s New Hospital Programme to improve how and where services are delivered, so that health and care services across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are more joined up and accessible to all. We will put our hospitals at the forefront of healthcare research and innovation, and transform them into more efficient, greener environments.”   TNUH vision

What is Tomorrow’s NUH?

Tomorrow's NUH (TNUH) is the name of our programme to redevelop both the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) and the City Hospital, creating improved environments that will enable us to respond to changes in health needs and medical advances, and to continue providing the right care for our local communities long into the future. It is part of the Government’s New Hospital Programme (NHP), which is investing in buildings and equipment across the NHS, to ensure that our healthcare system and staff have the facilities they need for the future.

Currently, we have some duplication of services across our two large hospital sites, and have services which should ideally be co-located, at the moment situated on opposite sides of the City Hospital. Our ageing estate makes it difficult for us to deliver modern healthcare in the way we would like to – many of our buildings were designed at a different time to care for fewer patients with different needs than those of today. In addition, as new treatments and technologies unheard of five or ten years ago are introduced, it is also important that our health and care services change too.

We also want to use our staff and resources in the most efficient ways, and we want to make sure we are creating opportunities within our local community as an employer of choice, while building on our reputation as a world-class teaching and research institution, so we attract new clinical talent to the region.

Through the Tomorrow’s NUH Programme investment, we have the opportunity to help address these issues and want to:-

  • Improve the way we manage the care of patients in an emergency by increasing the range of emergency care we provide at the QMC.
  • Provide new facilities for women, children and families, bringing these together on a single hospital site (QMC).
  • Provide a centre of excellence at the City Hospital for planned (elective) care.
  • Develop best-in-class cancer services at both the City Hospital and the QMC sites and in the community.
  • Transform outpatient services to provide patients with high quality care at the right time, and in the right place.

Our proposals, in summary:-

Image showing the proposal of Tomorrows NUH and the movements of services

Through the TNUH programme we also have the opportunity to review the services currently delivered from Ropewalk House and consider the right location for these in the future.

Government review of New Hospital Programme - January 2025

On 20 January 2025, Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, made a national announcement about the future of the New Hospital Programme, which was established in 2019 to build 40 new hospitals across the country.

At Nottingham University Hospitals, we have two projects within the New Hospital Programme – the National Rehabilitation Centre and Tomorrow’s NUH.

The announcement was following a review by the Labour government into timelines and funding for the programme. The National Rehabilitation Centre was not included in this review as it is already under construction, and it will continue to go ahead as planned.

However, the Tomorrow’s NUH programme - a once-in-a-generation programme to redevelop both the Queen’s Medical Centre and the City Hospital sites - was included in the national review.

Unfortunately, the government have announced that the Tomorrow’s NUH programme will face considerable further delays and commencement of the main scheme of work will not be allowed to begin until at least 2037.
 

Anthony May, Chief Executive of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said:

“Whilst we welcome the government’s ongoing commitment to Tomorrow’s NUH (TNUH), we are very disappointed that the review of the New Hospital Programme (NHP) announced today means significant delays to the TNUH scheme.

“This will not only considerably impact our patients and staff for the coming years but will also have a huge impact on our wider communities across the region.

“This will mean a significant delay to building a new Centre for Women, Children and Families for Nottingham. Our cancer patients will have to wait an additional decade to receive treatment in a bespoke Cancer Care building. Nottingham will continue to be one of the only acute hospitals in the country without a Helipad. And we will not be able to build the much-anticipated multi-storey car parks at NUH for many years.

“With one of the largest reported maintenance backlogs in the country (amounting to £439m), the NHP investment is desperately needed, and sooner rather than later, as the current condition of our estate limits our ability to provide the environment that our patients and staff deserve. Our Tomorrow’s NUH programme will be a significant solution to these issues, as well as being a catalyst for wider change within the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire region.

“We need to fully understand the implications of the announcement and will be working with NHP over the coming days and weeks to confirm what this means in terms of the different phases of the Tomorrow’s NUH programme.”