News

People living in the Kettering General Hospital catchment area are being urged to get involved in shaping the future of their local hospital.

The hospital is organising a series of engagement events to enable people to share their views on how we can revitalise our 123 year-old hospital and equip it with systems and services that will meet local people’s needs.

At the end of 2019 the Government announced that Kettering General Hospital will be supported in two important ways;

• It will receive funding for a £46m Urgent Care Hub to replace its existing A&E department and provide new community urgent care facilities all in one place
• It has been selected as one of 21 hospitals included in the Health Infrastructure Plan (HIP2) – a national hospital rebuilding programme

The two announcements provide the hospital with a major opportunity to look at how to reset its aging estate to meet rising demand and deliver high quality healthcare for the people of North Northamptonshire.

The hospital aims to do this with support and input from its local community, health and social care and local authority partners, and with expert advice and support from regional and national planners.

Its first public engagement event is on Monday September 28 where the Trust start will start to gather views from local people on what is important to them about their local hospital and the services it provides.

Group Chief Executive Simon Weldon said: “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Kettering General Hospital to radically improve our facilities to ensure we meet people’s healthcare needs.

“At the moment the hospital has a wide variety of different services in locations that have been used – in some cases – for more than a hundred years.

“This is a chance for a major redesign of our facilities and an opportunity to think differently about how we provide them.

“We want to know what local people’s top priorities are given the opportunity we have to invest in hospital services and facilities.”

The September 28 online presentation will be held at 2.30pm and again at 7pm which anyone with internet access can join by going to these links on the KGH website:

KGH Redevelopment Public Engagement Event 28th September (Start Time: 14:30) 

KGH Redevelopment Public Engagement Event 28th September (Start Time: 19:00)

People will be able to watch a joint presentation from the hospital’s Chief Executive, Simon Weldon and Director of Strategy, Polly Grimmett, which will explain why we need this investment and the process we will need to go through to access these national capital funds.

Then people will be able to, through a chat function on the broadcast, make comments and suggestions on areas they feel are important.

After the broadcast we will be gathering together all of the comments and using them to help inform and shape the Trust’s proposals.

For people unable to join the presentation live there will be the opportunity to view it afterwards on the Trust’s website and share their ideas via email although responses will need to have been received by the Trust by October 9.

KGH’s Director of Strategy, Polly Grimmett, said:

“I want as many local people as possible to join this broadcast so that we can share our proposals and so they can help us to develop them further. This is such an important development for the 330,000 people that live in the Kettering General Hospital area.

“We have an amazing opportunity to work together to create a well thought-out and much improved environment for hospital services.”

The hospital must develop a Strategic Outline Case for the HIP2 investment by Spring 2021.The case must include the views of local people, KGH staff, health, social care and local authority partners, and other stakeholders.

The hospital will then continue to refine its case through a national approvals process, involving NHS England and Improvement, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Treasury.

The aim would be to start work on major improvements in 2024*.