Your Hospitals, Your Say

What people in Lancashire and South Cumbria have told us they want from new hospital facilities.

Easy Read.

What is this about?

The New Hospitals Programme team have been asking people in Lancashire and South Cumbria what they think local hospital facilities should look like in the future.

So far, more than 15,500 patients, local people and staff have told us:

• what is most important to them
• what they like 
• what they do not like.

This document explains what people have told us.

Thank you to everyone who has shared their views so far. Your feedback helps us to understand the problems and think about how to make services better.

We will keep working on our ideas. We want to keep hearing what you think, to make sure we are doing the right thing for Lancashire and South Cumbria.

What is the Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme?

This is an important chance to make a big change to our local hospitals.

It is part of the Government’s plan to build 40 new hospitals by 2030. Together with 8 existing schemes, this will mean 48 hospitals built in England over the next 10 years. This is the biggest hospital building programme in a generation.

New, up-to-date facilities will help us to:

• provide the best healthcare
• reduce health inequalities (where people do not always get the same access to care or the same chance of living a long and healthy life).

We need new facilities because the buildings at Royal Preston Hospital and Royal Lancaster Infirmary are old and not in a very good condition. Furness General Hospital in Barrow-in-Furness also needs updating.

Lancashire and South Cumbria is a large and complex region, with a wide range of health challenges. 1.8 million people from lots of different cultures and communities live in a mix of cities, towns, the countryside and by the sea.

We need to understand the health needs of people of all ages and communities. We are working hard to make sure everyone is included and has the chance to take part.

Who has shared their views so far?

Since January 2021, we have heard from more than 15,500 different people, through more than 30,000 interactions (such as answering our surveys or coming to an event):

• More than 9,500 (about 1 in 3) interactions were with members of the public.
• More than 8,000 (about 1 in 4) were with particular communities or people with certain health conditions who we often do not manage to reach.
• For example, people in different ethnic minority groups, older people, and homeless people.
• Almost 6,000 (about 1 in 5) were with NHS staff.
• Almost 5,500 (about 1 in 6) were with patients and service users.
• Almost 1,000 were with groups who support particular communities or people with certain health conditions.
• Almost 300 were with local politicians and MPs.

Why are we talking about this?

We want to make sure local people are aware and informed about our proposals (suggestions for how things could look in the future).

People need to know how they can get involved. We want them to feel enthusiastic about what is possible. It is important that everyone understands why and how decisions are made.

What process have we been following?

We are following a clear and thorough process to:

• give everyone the chance to have their say
• help shape the future of hospital care in Lancashire and South Cumbria.

First we had to explain why changes to our hospitals are needed. Read more about this at www.newhospitals.info/CaseforChange

Then we developed a longlist of proposals for better, new hospital facilities.

Read more at www.newhospitals.info/longlist

We narrowed this longlist down to a shortlist of proposals. See the shortlist on page 14 or read more at www.newhospitals.info/shortlist

The next step will be to get approval from the NHS and Government decision makers.

We may need to hold a public consultation to give everyone the chance to have their say if there will be big changes.

Once a decision has been made, we will work together to create the new hospital facilities.

What have we been talking about?

We have asked people what they think about the hospitals in Lancashire and South Cumbria.

People have told us what they want new hospital facilities to look like. They have also told us what worries them about hospitals changing. We have talked about why we need new hospital facilities in our area.

We shared ideas for how we might fix the problems with our current hospitals. People helped us decide how to review and test our ideas, which became a list of proposals. We worked together to review the longlist, which led to the shortlist.

How did we tell people about the New Hospitals Programme?

We asked questions in surveys – over the phone, in person and online.

We talked to people in town centres, at supermarkets and other places.

We met with small and big groups of people. We interviewed people and had long conversations to understand their thoughts.

We wrote to people, and we used social media like Facebook. We put articles and adverts in newspapers, on the radio, and on websites.

What did people tell us?

A lot of people are happy about the new funding for new hospital facilities.

Local people, patients and staff understand the challenges and the need to make things better.

All groups said travel and accessibility would be very important when they looked at our proposals.

People would be happy to try digital tools like video or phone appointments if it meant some care could be provided closer to home.

Most people would not be happy with a single new hospital on a new central site.

Patients, the public and the different groups we spoke to were worried that services could be further away, and that it could be harder to travel to and around the hospital.

We should think carefully about sustainability when designing new hospital facilities. Sustainability means using materials and building in a way that causes the least damage to the environment. It means designing buildings that will still work for people in the future so they last for longer.

People hoped for flexible spaces and green areas, where staff and visitors could relax. Some people thought that improving our current sites would be better for the environment.

Our hospitals must meet the needs of local people both now and in the future.

Patients want it to be easy to get to hospital.

The groups who support certain communities said patient-centred care was the most important thing for them. Future healthcare services should help people to stay well, support the whole person, work together, and reduce health inequalities. These groups also want hospital staff to have training to better understand the needs of particular communities or people with certain health conditions who we often do not manage to reach.

What is the shortlist of proposals?

Your feedback has helped us turn our longlist of proposals into a shortlist of possible solutions:

• Do some rebuilding work at the current sites at Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Royal Preston Hospital.
• Build a new Royal Lancaster Infirmary on a new site, with some rebuilding and improvements at Royal Preston Hospital.
• Build a new Royal Preston Hospital on a new site, with some rebuilding and improvements at Royal Lancaster Infirmary.
• Build a new Royal Lancaster Infirmary and a new Royal Preston Hospital on new sites.
• All proposals would include updating Furness General Hospital, which is very important to local people who are far away from other facilities.
• What happens next?
• We will follow a clear process over the next few months:
• We will look carefully at each proposal on the shortlist. We will look at the sites, the costs, and the planning details.
• If we need a public consultation, we will write a document called a Pre-Consultation Business Case (PCBC) to explain the option or options. We will work with the NHS, the Government, and local council decision makers to make sure they are happy with how we do this. 
• We will agree on a preferred way forward.
• We plan to open the new hospital facilities by 2030.

We want to keep you involved and informed in the New Hospitals Programme.

Visit our website to find out how to have your say. 

Production Date: December 2022, Review Date: December 2025, JR 879. Images copyright CHANGE, visit the Change People website (opens in new window)

Front cover images copyright Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme.