Hospital funding announcement next week, BBC understands

St Helier Hospital had been told it would get new buildings as well as upgrades to existing ones, but staff have said this is yet to happen.

The hospital, which first opened its doors to patients in 1941, has been the subject of funding promises under a number of governments.

In 2003, Tony Blair’s Labour announced a plan called Better Health Care Closer to Home, external.

In 2010, Tory George Osborne promised £200m towards funding new hospital schemes, including at St Helier Hospital.

In 2020, the government under Boris Johnson promised up to £500m to St Helier in the New Hospitals Programme.

Then in 2023, the BBC reported ministers aimed to have six hospitals ready for 2025 – one which was St Helier, part of Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Dr Beccy Suckling, chief medical officer at the hospital, said the building had a series of problems including windows that won’t close properly, leading to damp.

She said more than 600 operations had to be cancelled last year because of ventilation difficulties in the theatres.

Dr Suckling believes the age of the building – which was completed in 1942 – is the root cause of the problems.