New six-storey Leighton Hospital plans include huge car park

The new six-storey Leighton Hospital due to open in 2031 will include a new 1,000-space car park, plans have shown.

Mid Cheshire Hospitals Trust is set to submit an outline planning application to Cheshire East Council for the new hospital in December.

It will be built on land immediately to the north of the current hospital which will eventually by demolished.

Plans show there will be around 107,500sqm of new replacement hospital floorspace in the form of a six-storey hospital building, alongside ancillary buildings to accommodate the Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD) and new energy infrastructure.

A new four-storey Ambulatory Cancer Care (ACC) Centre will provide 5,000sqm of additional floorspace.

And a new multi-storey car park comprising up to 1,000 spaces will be built alongside new and reconfigured existing surface car parking.

This aims to address the many concerns residents have at the limited and often difficult task of finding somewhere to park currently.

There will also be new vehicular accesses from both Middlewich Road and Flowers Lane.

There will be a new “wet plant” building (single storey) to accommodate ground and air source heat pumps as the aim is to run the hospital sustainably.

There will be a separate application for new surface-level car parking to the south of the existing hospital which will support the re-development of the hospital estate.

This will include 310 new car parking spaces, new vehicular and pedestrian access from Smithy Lane, landscaping, drainage infrastructure and associated works.

The Trust said they aim for the new hospital to go live during the 2031/32 financial year.

The new hospital will have around 540 inpatient beds, and each patient will have their own ensuite room.

A MCHFT spokesperson said: “This aligns with our commitment to the 10-year NHS England plan to shift more care from hospitals into community settings, ensuring people can receive treatment and support closer to home.

“This way, hospital care will be reserved for those who need it most, supported by community-based prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation.

“Additionally, each patient having their own room will make managing beds more efficient, including reducing the number of beds being lost to infection, and according to research from the NHP comparing single bed care with that in bedded bays, improved infection control and faster patient recovery, leads to reduced length of stay.”

New wards will follow the same modern design for every new hospital built under the government’s New Hospital Programme.

In the new Leighton, there will be 32 beds on each ward and every inpatient will have a single room with ensuite facilities.

A spokesperson for Mid Cheshire Hospitals Trust said: “Single rooms offer huge benefits, such as greater privacy and dignity for patients and their families, quieter patient environments to support rest and recovery, reducing the risk of infections from spreading and ensuring every inpatient has single sex accommodation.

“In response to feedback we have received from patients and staff, wards will have day rooms and other communal spaces, to help reduce patient’s feelings of isolation or loneliness.

“We believe that, with the support of digital technologies, patient care in single rooms can be provided with around the same staffing ratios as we currently have, but we will continue to test this as we develop our Outline Business Case (OBC).

“We are currently considering a number of renewable technologies, including solar, geothermal, and ground and air source heat pumps.

“Our hospital will need to be net zero carbon and as such will need to incorporate renewable technologies.

“We will provide further details about the chosen renewable technologies once technical studies have been completed.

“We understand parking is an important issue for our staff, patients and visitors, which is why we are developing a wide-ranging transport strategy for the new Leighton.

“This plan will cover all relevant transport matters, from access to the new site and car parking, through to public transport and sustainable and green travel, such as cycle paths.

“Our goal is to provide a hospital that is easy to reach, environmentally responsible, and well connected for all users.”

The Trust is currently running a non-statutory public consultation until Wednesday November 12th.

You can find out more and air your views on the plans, by visiting https://www.healthierfutures.mcht.nhs.uk/get-involved/latest-events