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Proposed site at the General Hospital circled

IT IS a £50m plan that could revolutionise the care of sick and critically ill children in the south.

The Daily Echo can today exclusively reveal plans to build a dedicated children's hospital in Southampton.

Diagnosing children's conditions pre-birth, treating babies with complex conditions and youngsters into their late teens for any kind of medical condition or emergency, Southampton Children's Hospital will rival its counterparts anywhere else in the country.

One of around ten UK specialist hospitals for young people, it will be housed on the main Southampton General Hospital site and be linked to the main building and accident and emergency department through walkways and bridges.

Its construction is expected to bring hundreds of new jobs - although hospital chiefs do not know how many yet - as well as boost the local economy and attract specialists to the city.

Sick children from Devon and Cornwall, Wiltshire, West Sussex and the Channel Islands could be brought to Southampton for treatment for complex conditions. These could include anything from cancer, cardiology to diabetes and kidney problems.

Work has already begun on clearing the land for the new building - tearing down the disused residential block that has towered at the emergency entrance in Tremona Road and been covered in scaffolding for seven years.

The building, which was dangerous and dubbed an eyesore by local residents, had scaffolding erected around it to make it safe. Under the plans, dozens of new car parking spaces will be created so that patients and their families can access the children's hospital through its own separate entrance. Subject to planning permission, work could start on the actual hospital building - which could eventually have seven storeys - as early as January next year. The initial phase, which has been given internal financial approval, will see three floors.

It is hoped the entire project will be completed by 2015 although there are hopes of work finishing in as little as five years time.

The children's hospital will be linked to the recent north wing building on the site where intensive care and high dependency wards will be housed. So far £4.9m has been spent on creating a new children's theatre within the building where nearly all emergency and day surgery and recovery will take place.

The children's cancer ward on G level will also remain and be linked through a bridge above the A&E departments.

Bosses at Southampton University Hospital Trust have already earmarked £40m through a capital investment programme that includes savings made through work delivered within the hospital.

The remaining estimated £10m will have to be met through a major fundraising campaign that will be launched in around 18 months time.

Dr Michael Marsh, divisional clinical director and paediatrician, said the aim was to deliver a world-class children's hospital.

"This is a really exciting project and it's brilliant news for the children of the south of England.

"It will no doubt bring more jobs, boost the economy and increase the need for more specialist work here in Southampton. We want to make the local people proud and pleased with what we have done.

"There will be some quite radical changes and yet lots of things that the public will not notice, but hopefully in the end they will see a better service for our children. The aim is to create a separate entity that to the outside world is recognised as a children's hospital that will deliver world-class and high quality success, in a modern environment that is totally focused on the child.

"It's going to be challenging and hard work during the next few years but it's great that after many year's of thinking about developing a children's hospital it's finally going to be."

2:19pm Thursday 24th July 2008

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