Health and council leaders have bowed to public pressure and scrapped plans for a shared hospital and leisure site in Berwick Upon Tweed.

Northumberland County Council and the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust had argued that a joint development of a new infirmary and leisure centre at the Swan Centre in the town would improve health outcomes.

But locals made their opposition clear, with almost 2,000 people signing a petition opposing a combined site.

They argued the services offered by the proposal weren't enough for the remote town, where many residents are forced to make round trips of over 100 miles to use hospitals in Cramlington or Wansbeck.

Now, the trust has announced the £25m hospital will be built on a standalone site.

Berwick Infirmary
Berwick Infirmary

Jim Mackey, chief executive at Northumbria Healthcare said: “Feedback from the public – and from our elected public governors – has been unequivocal on the question of co-location: they don’t want it.

"As such, we will now move forward with a separate site.”

Councillor Peter Jackson, Leader of Northumberland County Council said: “The feedback from the people of Berwick is clear - they don’t want a co-located site - and we’re acting on that.

“We’re fully committed to making sure Berwick gets the very best, and I have promised that the county council will build a brand new state-of-the-art leisure facility on the Swan Centre site. We will keep our promise, and continue to listen to our residents through the planning stages.”

Local campaigner Steven Havelin, of the group 'A Better Hospital for Berwick' said he was pleased leaders had bowed to "overwhelming public pressure" - and said he hoped the new site would, in time, be home to more health services.

He said: "They clearly realise, quite rightly, that Berwick needs a stand-alone hospital on a separate site.

"We now have the opportunity to develop a big enough building to accommodate all the services needed to ensure local people no longer have to bear the intolerable burdens of travelling such long distances, to hospitals so far away, when so much should be available instead in our own home town."

These are some key questions about the change in plans:

Will this slow the plans down?

The health trust say it's too early to talk about a timescale for the construction of the new hospital.

No date had been announced under the previous plans, so it's not the case that an expected delivery date has been pushed back.

However, it's reasonable to assume it will take at least some time to settle on a new site, pushing back the date any new hospital could open by at least some time.

Plans for a new infirmary in Berwick have been in the works for many years - first mooted in 2009 - so several sites have already been considered, and back in 2012 it was hoped a new infirmary would be open by 2015.

The trust, however, says "intensive discussions" are now happening, with more news expected "in the near future".

Will there be more on offer at the new hospital?

It's not entirely clear. The trust says it is committed to doing more to offer more appointments in Berwick and that it will "reflect further" on locals' demands for more services.

Chief exectutive Jim Mackey said: “Service provision at Berwick is something we take very seriously and wherever possible we are committed to bringing care as close to home as possible.

“Following feedback from the community it’s clear we need to reflect on this further. For instance, we don’t want people travelling for routine – relatively simple – procedures like pre-operative assessments.

"Equally, wherever possible, we need to make much more of an effort to offer more appointments at Berwick Infirmary to local residents.

“In both cases, we accept we could and should have done more and are committed to doing so in future.”

However, the only clear commitment is to provide all the same services as are currently available in the existing infirmary. So with the same sum of money on the table, it's not clear if this means any substantial increase.

Where will the new hospital be?

It's unlikely to be on the existing site, as the trust have argued a new site is vital, to ensure the current infirmary can continue to run during construction.

Back in 2012, five edge-of-town sites had been on the table, with land previously used as playing fields at Berwick Academy eventually settled on. It's not known whether some of these sites could be reconsidered, or if a new proposal might

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What has actually changed?

The site is definitely going to be different, and health chiefs say they're aiming to increase the number of appointments available in the town - but other than that, it doesn't seem that much has changed.

Mr Mackey said: “When we announced plans for a joint – integrated – site it was our intention that Berwick has a new and modern hospital - this remains the case.

"Equally, we are fully committed to investing £25 million in the project. However, we are also committed to working with the community to make sure their particular concerns are addressed."

The new leisure centre plans are also set to go ahead, with a £20m investment.