The hospital faces major problems, the trust says, including safety at the main outpatient building

A NATIONAL Health Service hospital which is being forced to shut its main outpatient building due to structural issues is canvassing feedback on plans to redevelop the site.

St Mary’s Hospital, a sprawling estate in Paddington, where Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, has launched a public consultation to inform the first stage of its forthcoming masterplan.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which owns the site, is looking to build a new and taller hospital on a smaller footprint, enabling it to carry out a range of improvements to existing facilities.

The additional land freed up by the redevelopment has been earmarked for an expansion of Paddington Life Sciences, a cluster bringing together clinicians, researchers and communities.

Matthew Tulley, Imperial’s redevelopment director, said the first phase of the consultation “marks an important step on our journey to finally deliver the urgently needed new St Mary’s”.

When the Local Democracy Reporting Service, LDRS, visited the hospital last year evidence of the challenges the NHS trust is facing were evident, from rusty pipes and leaks to patched flooring.

Despite having the largest maintenance backlog out of all of the country’s NHS trusts, Imperial’s three hospitals – which alongside St Mary’s include Hammersmith and Charing Cross – were shunted into the final tranche of the government’s New Hospital Programme (NHP) announced last January.

The result is that much-needed works are not expected to start for another decade with completion due in the 2040s.

The NHS trust is exploring additional sources of finance and ways of funding the redevelopment, which it says will allow it to submit a planning application by spring 2027.

This would then enable it to deliver a new hospital by 2035, eight years earlier than the NHP timetable.

Two recent issues have exemplified the need to get the redevelopment plans moving.

In November the NHS trust discovered reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in its main outpatient building.

Following further structural analysis it announced in December that the building would be shut due to safety concerns, with the closure expected later this year.

Also last year “significant issues” were found in the foundations of the Mint building, the oldest part of the estate used to deliver clinical services as well as an education centre.

Mr Tulley said: “Following decades of stalled progress, we are now closer than ever before to delivering a much needed new hospital in Paddington as we work to develop and submit a planning application by spring 2027.

“We want as many patients, staff, and local people as possible to help shape our masterplan for the redevelopment of the site, whether through our online survey or by coming along to our in-person pop-up events.

“This will inform both the design of the hospital and our plans for the wider site.The St Mary’s estate is one of the oldest in the NHS, with parts dating back to 1845.

“We simply can’t keep up with the rate of deterioration, despite spending millions every year on basic maintenance.

“This can be seen clearly in two current issues that mean we are having to spend even more money on repairs than expected, and move all clinics out of our main outpatient building as we cannot ensure its safety beyond this year.”

The online consultation, which can be found on the NHS trust’s website, is open until March 20.

Three pop-up events are also to be held where visitors can speak to members of the team and share their views:

• February 28, 10am to 2pm, at The Bays Building, South Wharf Road;
• March 3, 11am to 3pm, at Church Street Market; and
• March 4, 11am to 3pm, in the QEQM Building, South Wharf Road.