Derriford's new A&E upgrades welcomed by MPs

Construction is expected to start in the summer

Plymouth’s three MPs have welcomed the government’s decision to build Derriford Hospital’s new urgent and emergency care facility in its first wave of hospital revamps.

The future of the new A&E area was thrown into doubt when Labour came to power and announced it would review the New Hospitals Programme initiated by the Conservatives.

Health secretary Wes Streeting said plans to rebuild and upgrade 40 of the most out-of-date hospitals by 2030 was “unfunded and undeliverable”.

The government has now set out its “realistic delivery plan” in five-year waves  up to 2040, with Derriford, estimated to cost under £500 million, to start construction in the first wave before 2030.

Mr Streeting visited Derriford in December to speak with NHS staff and patients after Plymouth Moor View MP Fred Thomas wrote to encourage him to see stretched services firsthand.

Mr Thomas, a Labour backbencher, who did a night shift at the hospital before Christmas to raise awareness of the issues, said he sought an ‘iron clad commitment’ from the government on a new emergency department during his first weeks as an MP last July.

He said: “I know how much people rely on Derriford, and how hard the staff work in challenging circumstances. I’m thrilled that the government has listened to us and decided to give Derriford the new A&E it needs. I will continue working with the government to make sure this is delivered as quickly as possible”.

Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, who is a government minister, said: “This is excellent news for Plymouth. I have fought tooth and nail for a new emergency department at Derriford since I was elected in 2017.

“The Conservatives left the future of Derriford up in the air. Unforgivably, they promised us an emergency department without setting aside the money to build it.

“On behalf of staff and patients, I am delighted that we are in wave one of the government’s hospital programme and have the green light to get on with construction.”

Rebecca Smith, Conservative MP for South West Devon, which includes parts of Plymouth, said the announcement is a huge win for the city and the surrounding areas.

She thanked the local people, almost 1,000, who signed her petition to put pressure on the government.

“It is only with their support that I have been able to demonstrate the strength of feeling locally and make the strongest possible case to government,” she said.

“We cannot tackle NHS wait times without first getting a grip on the queue of ambulances outside of Derriford’s A&E. It never should have been delayed in the first place, and I urge the government to now work at pace to make up for lost time.”

During his visit to Derriford before Christmas Mr Streeting told staff he is committed to finding a solution to the challenges at the hospital which serves an area of 475,000 residents, with a wider peninsula population of almost two million people who can access its specialist services.

Announcement which hospitals are winners and losers in the initial funding round, he said: “When I walked into the Department of Health and Social Care, I was told that the funding for the New Hospitals Programme runs out in March. Not a single new hospital was built in the past five years, and there was no credible plan to build 40 in the next five years.

“We were determined to put the programme on a firm footing so we can build the new hospitals our NHS needs.

“Today we are setting out an honest, funded, and deliverable programme to rebuild our NHS. I am committed to delivering a new emergency department at Derriford and to rebuilding our NHS.”

The new facility for Derriford, which is the south west’s peninsula’s major trauma centre, will replace the current emergency department.

Dr Ian McCarthy, emergency medicine consultant at Derriford, said: “The current emergency medicine facilities are approaching 50 years old and don’t represent what we want to do for our patients. We want to look after our patients in modern emergency facilities to be able to provide modern emergency medicine.

“This is going to be transformational for the people of the south west in terms of what we can provide for them and how we can look after them.”

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, said contractors are already demolishing existing areas to make way for the new building.

Construction is expected to start this summer with an expected completion date of autumn 2028 for the new building, and summer 2029 for the children’s emergency department.

The building will have four floors and will provide “a step change in terms of clinical accommodation,” the trust claimed.

The ground floor will allow patients to be assessed quickly and then treated in the most appropriate area. It will also provide space where the most unwell patients are treated and will have access to a full range of diagnostic imaging. This area will provide nearly twice the capacity of the current facility.

Plymouth City Council leader Cllr Tudor Evans (Lab, Ham) said: “We want our city to be a brilliant place to live where everyone enjoys an outstanding quality of life, and being able to access high quality, timely healthcare is an absolutely essential part of this. It is clear that these improvements are desperately needed and I’m pleased to hear that work on the new building will be progressed at pace.”

Cllr Mary Aspinall (Lab, Sutton and Mount Gould), cabinet member for health and adult social care said: “We look forward to seeing the development of this new modern facility, which will enable hardworking NHS staff to deliver the best possible care to patients.”

Derriford had five critical incidents last year and has already gone through one  in 2025.