Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hospitals he plans to replace the Royal Preston and Lancaster Royal Infirmary hospitals with.

The Health Infrastructure Plan set out the Government’s approach to long-term investment in our healthcare system to ensure staff and patients continue to have access to world class facilities. In line with this, the Department provided both the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust with £3.7 million each of seed funding to kick-start their schemes and to support both trusts in their development of plans for improving facilities for the staff and patients of the their communities, looking at potential rebuild options for the Royal Preston Infirmary, the Lancaster Royal Infirmary and Furness General Hospital.

The two neighbouring trusts have been, and continue to, work in close collaboration to develop different options for how to proceed that represent the best outcome for the area as a whole, which may include an option for two separate hospitals. These plans are in the early stage of their development and when developed further, will be subject to public consultation as an integral part in developing the collective and cohesive strategy.