PROPOSALS to build a new £450m hospital complex are set to go before council decision-makers next week.

An outline planning application to demolish parts of Leeds General Infirmary, and replace them with “state of the art” adult and children’s healthcare facilities and a multi-storey car park is set to be decided by Leeds City Council’s city plans panel.

A report, set to go before councillors claims the new facilities will provide 92,000 square metres of “focused healthcare space” in a building of “up to 15 storeys”.

The hospitals are also expected a new maternity unit, as well as increased capacity for operations and critical care – including neurosurgery and cardiac surgery.

Plans were originally submitted by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust back in March, and were part of the NHS’s Hospitals of the Future programme –  a 10-year piece of work to transform healthcare for patients in the region.

A document produced by Leeds City Council officers states: “The proposed development seeks to demolish a number of buildings within the hospital grounds, decommission others to free them for alternative uses, and to build new centralised ‘state of the art’ adult and children’s services joined hospital buildings.

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“This would result in the consolidation and centralisation of inpatient and outpatient services for children in a new and more accessible world-class children’s hospital.

“In addition the changes will allow the centralisation of a number of adult services (to include outpatients and therapies, day case surgery and endoscopy) that will permit services to be co-located and centralised improving the patient  experience and facilitating a significant release of currently under used estate buildings.

“Further to this, the scheme will allow the consolidation of maternity services, currently provided over two separate sites, into a single maternity unit.

It added that the proposals would also “support improvements to emergency care” through plans to develop new primary care diagnostics and treatment services in a new “Urgent Treatment Centre”.

The plans also include a new 10-storey car park – with up to 650 spaces – would also form part of the site. This would make up around 1,745 car parking spaces across the whole LGI site.

The buildings set to be demolished to make way for the development are the Nurse’s Home and Corson Pathology Building, King Edward VII Memorial Wing, a section of the Brotherton Wing, as well as “more contemporary associated buildings behind the Brotherton Wing”.

The report concludes: “It is considered that the proposal would allow creation of clinic accommodation that will enable the LGI to consolidate and centralise inpatient and outpatient services for both adults and children, in dedicated hospital facilities,

improving flexible care tailored to the needs of patients. In addition the development will assist the NHS Trust to ensure the most advanced technologies, equipment and treatments are made available to all patients.

“The proposals would result in less than substantial harm as a result of the demolition of the non-designated heritage assets. However, this level of harm would be outweighed by the substantial public benefits that will be brought the development.

“The development will also free up important, currently underused, listed and non-listed buildings, allowing them to be repurposed at a future date where they can once more reach their own full potential.

“As such the hospital development and the decommissioning and repurposing of parts of the campus would not only assist the functioning and vitality of the LGI, but would also add to the vibrancy and economy of the Leeds Innovation District, the City Centre and the wider city of Leeds.”

It recommended that outline permission be granted subject to conditions around employing local people, as well as contributions towards travel and traffic regulations.

Should the proposals be approved, more detailed plans would be expected to be submitted over the coming months.