Frequently asked questions

With our local health and social care partners, we’re working towards building a brand new state-of-the-art hospital at Whipps Cross as part of the Government’s flagship new hospital building programme.

The redevelopment of Whipps Cross offers a historic opportunity to replace an ageing and sprawling estate with a brand new hospital and to transform the wider Whipps Cross site with new homes, new green and public spaces, other health and care services and community facilities.

Below you'll find answers to some of the frequently asked questions.

What services will be in the new hospital?

The new hospital will reprovide a full range of general inpatient, outpatient and day-case services, alongside maternity services and a 24-hour A&E department.  

With a flexible and modern design the new hospital will be easier to find your way around, be able to adapt to changing levels of demand, and accommodate up to 600 inpatient beds should that prove necessary.

When will the new hospital be completed and how much will it cost?

Outline planning permission was granted for the new hospital in November 2021.

Work to demolish disused buildings to prepare the ground for the new hospital was completed in May 2022.

We anticipate phase one of construction starting in summer 2024 when work will start on the first of two multi-storey car parks which will eventually connect to the new hospital itself.

Subject to full approval by national government, we expect construction on the new Whipps Cross Hospital to start in 2026 and be completed in 2030.

The overall capital requirement for the the new hospital will be informed by the detailed design work that underpins the development of the Outline Business Case. This will then be subject to approval by national government.

How much of the site will be sold?

The current hospital is spread out across 18 hectares, equivalent to around 25 football pitches.  The new hospital will have a much smaller footprint but a better layout, providing 30% more clinical space to care for and treat patients.

This means there is an opportunity to redevelop the wider site to increase the number of green spaces, provide greater flood protection, and safeguard land for future NHS use.

The current Whipps Cross site is currently 99% covered by hard surfaces such as access roads and multiple car parks. As part of our commitment to the environment we will create 58,500sqm of newly planted publicly accessible green spaces, the equivalent of around 8 football pitches.

Through planting and other measures we will improve biodiversity by 10% on the site and install new flood mitigations.

Once the requirements of safeguarded land for future NHS use and the provision of green spaces have been met, the remaining land will be disposed of for development including up to 1,500 new homes, in line with Waltham Forest Council’s Local Plan. The value of the land at the point of sale will be determined by market conditions at the time.

How will the new development address surface water flooding?

The major flooding incident at Whipps Cross in July 2021 once again showed how vulnerable the hospital is to such events. 

Our flood prevention plans include incorporating green roofs and attenuation tanks (which collect and store excess water) to reduce the run-off rate of surface water to avoid overloading drainage systems during heavy rain. There will also be a critical drainage area set aside, including natural ponds, to further improve drainage and increase biodiversity and water quality.

These plans can only be delivered in full through the redevelopment of the hospital and the wider Whipps Cross site.

How many beds will the new Whipps Cross have?

Our plans include the flexibility to provide up to 600 overnight inpatient beds should that prove necessary. That's more beds than in the current hospital.

We will keep reviewing this during the planning and construction phases to make sure that when the new hospital opens it meets local demand for healthcare.

 

How will specialist palliative and end of life care be delivered in the new hospital?

Specialist inpatient end-of-life care at Whipps Cross is provided in the Margaret Centre unit and on an increasing number of acute wards. The Margaret Centre and these wards have all been recognised for their outstanding levels of care, having been awarded the nationally-recognised Gold Standard Framework.

However, the Margaret Centre building itself presents certain challenges due to its original design as a paediatric care facility. The rooms are smaller compared to modern standards and those found in the main hospital and the external stand-alone nature of the building poses difficulties for patient transfers during inclement weather conditions. The clinical and operational teams are actively working with the hospital estates team to enhance the décor of the rooms, although this will not address the size limitations or the absence of ensuite facilities, which are preferred by clinicians, patients and their families.

With significantly more single occupancy rooms, we should be confident that further improvements to specialist palliative and end-of-life care will be enabled by the new Whipps Cross Hospital - through provision of this type of care on all acute wards - with or without an additional dedicated specialist unit.

What will the new car park look like and when will it be completed?

The first phase of construction began in July 2024, with the start of construction on the first of two multi-storey car parks. The work will take approximately 12 months.  

This is an artist's impression of the first of two new multi-storey car parks at Whipps Cross Hospital

The car park will include:

  • an initial 100 electric vehicle charging bays,
  • parking for 24 motorcycles, and 
  • 50 accessible spaces 

When the car park opens in summer 2025 most spaces will be for staff, with 47 reserved for patients and visitors.

The design of the car park was reviewed by the Design Council and subject to statutory consultation. The design responds to local feedback, will be secure and well-lit, and is compliant with a range of local and national policies including LBWF planning policies, NHS Health Building Notes (setting technical standards for the NHS estate), and ‘Park Mark’ (A status awarded to parking facilities that have met the requirements of a risk assessment conducted by the police).