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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Thank you to everyone who has engaged with us during this first phase of consultation around our plans to build a brand-new Specialist Emergency Care Hospital (SECH) in Sutton. We have received so much helpful feedback from the community which will help shape our proposals.

We have set out below answers to the questions which have come up most frequently during our public consultation to date, and will keep this updated over the coming months.

We have tried to answer these questions to the best of our ability with technical work still ongoing. More information will be provided in our next round of consultation.

If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact us at: esth.byfhplans@nhs.net

General

1. How is the new hospital being funded?

The new hospital will be one of 40 under the Government’s £3.7 billion New Hospital Programme and is one of eight in the first phase of the programme.

We have been awarded more than half a billion pounds to build the new hospital, including £80 million on significant improvements across both Epsom and St Helier hospitals.

2. Why was this location chosen for the new hospital, rather than at Epsom or St Helier?

The location for the new hospital was selected following public consultation led by NHS South West London Clinical Commissioning Group on a range of options. This programme was called Improving Healthcare Together. These options were arrived at after extensive testing of alternatives, engagement with the London Borough of Sutton, and consultation with staff, patients and the public. Of the three sites considered during the consultation, the Sutton Hospital site provides the most benefits.

Because the land belonging to Epsom and St Helier at Sutton is empty, it will be easier and quicker to build there. The site also already has extensive NHS and health uses already with the Oak Cancer Centre (currently being built and to open in 2023), Royal Marsden Hospital (RMH), and Maggie’s Centre already all operating from the site. The proposals for the SECH also support the vision for the London Cancer Hub which is being progressed by the London Borough of Sutton, Institute for Cancer Research and RMH.

It is expected that by delivering it on this site, the hospital will be able to be built within four years of breaking ground. It will also mean that the hospital is co-located with the Royal Marsden Hospital which should bring additional benefits and opportunities for shared services, resulting in better care for our patients and greater value for money for taxpayers.

This location is also convenient to access via public transport and sits centrally within the Trust’s catchment area, and has less impact on our neighbouring hospitals in north Surrey and southwest London.

Transport and access

We received a number of questions during the first round of consultation regarding the access plans for the new hospital and what would be put in place to manage the impact on local roads and transport systems.

We fully understand that this is an important aspect of these proposals for local people, and that residents near to the site are understandably asking for more information about transport and access than we were able to provide in our early engagement.

During our next round of consultation, we are planning to present much more detail on these matters to provide clarity for local people and reassurances that this new facility will bring real benefits to the area, whilst any impact on local roads will be well managed.

To achieve this, we are currently undertaking detailed technical work to carefully consider the routes into and out of the site and our proposals will ensure that access to the site is designed in the best possible way, making it easy for patients, visitors, staff and emergency vehicles to access the new hospital.

3. What are your current plans for the road infrastructure near and around the new hospital?

We do not yet have detailed plans for local road infrastructure, although this is an important part of our ongoing discussions with the London Borough of Sutton and other local landowners. Investment in local roads would have to be made in collaboration with the local council and Transport for London and be phased appropriately for future development in the area (such as the council’s London Cancer Hub plans).

We are preparing detailed transport assessment reports and integrated travel plans that set out how the new facility will impact local roads and transport systems which will be submitted as part of the planning application. This work will also inform our infrastructure plans.

We know that this is a key aspect of the proposals for local people. We will provide more information about transport, access and infrastructure during our second round of consultation, where we will share our detailed plans with the community for feedback.

4. How will you cater for emergency traffic along the Brighton Road and other narrow roads that get easily congested during the rush hour?

We are carefully considering the routes into and out of the site and our proposals will ensure that access to the site is designed in the best possible way, making it easy for patients, visitors, staff and emergency vehicles to access the new hospital, whilst seeking to manage the impact on local traffic.

We will provide more information about this during our second round of consultation, where we will share our detailed plans with the community for feedback.

5. How will you ensure that access to the new hospital does not increase disruption on the existing road network?

We are preparing detailed transport assessment reports and integrated travel plans that set out how the new facility will impact local roads and transport systems which will be submitted as part of the planning application. This work will also inform our infrastructure plans, and discussions with the London Borough of Sutton and Transport for London.

We know that this is a key aspect of the proposals for local people. We will provide more information about transport, access and infrastructure during our second round of consultation, where we will share our detailed plans with the community for feedback.

6. Will improvements be made to the existing junction at the end of Chiltern Road in order to manage the increased traffic load?

We are undertaking detailed technical work at present to assess how the new hospital will impact local roads and what infrastructure investment might be required to manage this impact on local traffic. The scope of this technical work includes looking at the Chiltern Road junction.

We will provide more information about this during our second round of consultation, where we will share our detailed plans with the community for feedback.

7. Would it be possible to have the entrance to the site off Brighton Road and across the land currently occupied by the allotments?

We are carefully considering the routes into and out of the site and our proposals will ensure that access to the site is designed in the best possible way, making it easy for patients, visitors, staff and emergency vehicles to access the new hospital.

We will provide more detailed information on site access plans at our next round of consultation.

8. Is it going to be possible for Cotswold Road and Downs Road, two very busy local roads, to be the main entry points for the site?

We are carefully considering the routes into and out of the site and our proposals will ensure that access to the site is designed in the best possible way, making it easy for patients, visitors, staff and emergency vehicles to access the new hospital. We are also closely assessing the potential impact on local roads, including Cotswold Road and Downs Road, as part of our ongoing technical assessments.

We will provide more detailed information on site access plans at our next round of consultation.

9. Will new bus routes to the hospital be provided?

We are in discussions with Transport for London and await the outcome of the Sutton Bus Consultation plan (December 2020) which aims to increase and enhance frequency of bus service provision in the area and to respond to planned development (including our new hospital).

We are also considering the provision of Park and Ride facilities to reduce the need for staff and visitors to drive and park on site.

10. Do you believe the current roads can sustain the increase in traffic the new hospital will bring?

We are undertaking detailed technical work to assess just this. This work will demonstrate how access to the hospital can be best managed, what impact it will likely have on local roads and transport infrastructure, and how we can manage that impact.

All our technical assessments will be made public as part of our planning application. We will be able to share more detail on this at our next round of consultation.

11. Are there plans to build a new road to access the hospital from Brighton Road? Are there plans to change the junction from Brighton Road to Cotswold Road?

We do not yet know if a new access road, either from Brighton Road, or elsewhere will be necessary. We are undertaking detailed technical work at present to assess how the new hospital will impact local roads and what infrastructure investment might be required to manage this impact on local traffic. The scope of this technical work includes looking at Brighton Road and Cotswold Road.

We will provide more information about this during our second round of consultation, where we will share our detailed plans with the community for feedback.

Multi-storey carpark

12. How much parking will there be as part of these proposals?

In total the car park will provide 800 spaces, of which around 300 will be allocated to the Royal Marsden Hospital. This is an overall increase of around 400 spaces on what exists on the site at the moment.

We are being flexible in this allocation of space and the long-term vision is that the car park could be used by other landowners as hopefully less spaces will be required if there is better public transport infrastructure.

13. Is this enough?

We have calculated the number of spaces that will be required based on expected patient and staff requirements and taking account of the RMH’s existing parking. In addition to this, we have held conversations with Transport for London and utilised their most recent research into future transport provision and requirements in Sutton.

Based on this, we believe that the proposals for the multi-storey car park will adequately serve the SECH as well as the other facilities. We have also been working closely with the other landowners to understand their needs.

14. Why can the parking not be provided underground?

There are a number of reasons why digging to create underground parking doesn’t work on this site. This would be very expensive but more importantly, it would also make it more difficult for us to create a truly sustainable building.

For example, an underground car park would require 24/7 mechanical ventilation which has a significant impact on the carbon emissions of the building, making it much less sustainable. We would also miss opportunities to make use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) which dramatically reduce emissions during construction.

15. Is this an appropriate place for a car park given you are suggesting it is built right next to the Harris Academy?

The car park has been specially designed to mitigate impact on the Harris Academy. For example, the frontage has been designed to control noise and light spill towards the Harris Academy and residential properties on Chiltern Road.

There are also no openings on the stair cores (the pedestrian access routes through the car park) which directly face the homes on Chiltern Road. Whilst some openings do face the Harris Academy, these have been set back to minimise overlooking.  We have also designed the building so that there is no stair core that overlooks the school’s school pitches, instead relocating this core to the southern elevation, thus avoiding any overlooking issues.

For example, an underground car park would require 24/7 mechanical ventilation which has a significant impact on the carbon emissions of the building, making it much less sustainable. We would also miss opportunities to make use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) which dramatically reduce emissions during construction.

16. Will there be any EV charging points located in the new car park?

Yes, several active EV charging points will be provided to encourage sustainable travel. The car park will be designed to easily increase the number of EV charging points in future as electric vehicles become the norm.

17. Will there be parking for disabled people?

Yes, there will be 40 spaces designated for disabled people.

18. How will the carpark be accessed?

Our team have worked closely with highways consultants to consider traffic analysis on the surrounding highways network and examine several options for access routes into the car park. These options have subsequently been discussed with Transport for London and London Borough of Sutton officers. The current proposals are for the carpark to be accessed from Cotswold Road, using one of the existing access points to site.

The barriered access to the carpark building itself will be from the hospital’s internal road, a considerable distance away from Cotswold Road. This internal estate road will act as reservoir for waiting vehicles during peak times.

The proposed layout is designed to prevent vehicles queuing out on to the local highways network. It has an appropriate number of entry and exit lanes and follows industry standards.

19. What is being done to manage pollution caused by the car park?

The project team includes specialist environmental consultants that examine the air quality around the car park. They have been on site and taken samples, which they used as a baseline whilst modelling the expected vehicles’ circulation around and inside the carpark to calculate pollution levels.

The conclusion of their study was that the current design would not result in any significant air quality issues. We will be pleased to share the findings of their work in more detail as part of the planning submission and summarise this during our next round of consultation.

It is also worth mentioning that the number of electric vehicles used is expected to rise significantly in the coming year, which will reduce pollution levels. Our proposals allow for a number of EV charging points and allow for this to increase as EV become more common with time.

Hospital services

20. How many beds will the new hospital have? How many will be single rooms?

The new hospital will have over 500 beds. Around 75% of the beds will be single rooms, with the remainder in four-bed wards.

21. What services will the new hospital provide?

The SECH will consolidate six of our major services – Emergency Department (A&E), Critical Care, Acute Medicine, Emergency Surgery, Inpatient Paediatrics, Maternity Services.

There will be some antenatal services, but the rest of our outpatient services will continue to be located at our Epsom and St Helier hospitals.

22. What services will remain at Epsom and St Helier hospitals?

85% of patients treated at Epsom and St Helier will see no change to where they receive their care – but will be cared for in improved buildings.

Additionally, both Epsom and St Helier hospitals will still have urgent treatment centres open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

This means that the new hospital will significantly increase the overall capacity of all three sites.

23. How has COVID-19 shaped the designs of the new hospital?

In response to a rapidly changing healthcare environment and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to make sure the new hospital is flexible, adaptable and easy to get around. The new layout, with its central entrance and closely connected clinical departments, will enable quicker diagnosis and mean patients spend less time travelling around the hospital and instead receive the care they need in one place.

We have designed the building to allow for separation of COVID and non-COVID patients with separate entrances and patient flows, and key departments will also have in-built resilience to adapt and allow for effective operations in the event of future pandemics including increasing the number of critical care beds compared with current numbers. With 75% of rooms designed for single occupancy, this further helps to keep patients separated to support infectious disease control.

24. What security will be in place around the hospital?

The open access of hospital environments can make them particularly vulnerable to crime and we have therefore been careful to design out opportunities for crimes to happen.

We have sought, through good design and in response to stakeholder feedback, to create a safe and secure environment for patients, medical professionals and visitors.

The recommended security solution for a hospital like this is a fully unified system that brings together all the proposed security technologies into one, simple to use interface. A layered and combined approach is being proposed that incorporates physical, electronic and operational measures.

The following technologies are being proposed (amongst others):

  • Internal and external HD IP CCTV
  • Electronic access control
  • Hi-def audio and video intercoms
  • Panic alarms
  • Hostile vehicle mitigation measures
  • Anti-climb fencing

Security control room.

Hospital design and development

25. How tall will the new hospital be?

The tallest part of the hospital currently stands at ten storeys with this part of the building located towards the centre of the site away from the nearby houses on Cotswold Road and Bicknoller Close. The building will then ‘step-down’ towards these houses, reducing in height to seven storeys.

The main mass of the building also steps down to three storeys around 50m from Cotswold Road to minimise the impact on the residential neighbourhood. The existing belt of trees next to Cotswold Road will be retained to screen off and mitigate the impact of the building to the public as much as possible.

26. How big will the new hospital be?

The design is still being developed but we estimate the new hospital will be around 55,000 square metres.

27. Why is the new building closer to the site boundary than initially imagined?

The building is closer to the boundary, and oriented the way it is, to make movement between the clinical departments as easy as possible for patients and clinicians. It also allows patients in need of critical care from the Royal Marsden to be transferred safely and quickly into the SECH.

The main mass of the building is situated towards the southeast of the site, and steps down to three storeys around 50m from Cotswold Road to minimise the impact on your residential neighbourhood. The existing belt of trees next to Cotswold Road will be retained to screen off and mitigate the impact of the building to the public as much as possible.

28. What is being done to reduce impact on neighbouring homes on Cotswold Road or Bicknoller Close?

The proposed design of the SECH considers the surrounding houses and we are aiming to minimise the impact on light and privacy for those properties in close proximity, whilst also proposing a design which delivers the necessary facilities and services required by the Trust.

The new hospital is therefore at its tallest to the north and northwest of the site, in line with the London Cancer Hub (LCH) Development Framework. The building then lowers by two internal storeys plus the external plant roof on the south towards Bicknollor Close. The building also steps down five storeys on the western side as the building approaches Cotswold Road.

Both the south and west faces of the building are lower, and our design will use the existing trees to provide a natural screening, minimising the impact on local residents’ views.

The building has also been designed to have the greatest mass and volume in the centre of the site, which is furthest away from the residential properties, which will help manage the visual impact on neighbours.

Detailed visual impact analyses will be undertaken and the results shared with residents prior to our planning submission.

29. Earlier plans for the hospital showed a lower-level building. Why are the proposals now taller?

The height and massing of the building have been determined by the clinical requirements – its size is determined by the number of clinical departments, their unique requirements, and the need to provide over 500 beds in the new hospital.

We have had to work within the footprint of our site and have worked hard to develop an economical design that delivers all the services required by the Trust for a high-quality specialist emergency care hospital whilst still respecting local architecture and taking care to manage the impact of the new building on its neighbours.

30. Could the old Sutton Hospital building not be retained?

Many of the original hospital buildings were demolished to make way for the Harris Academy. A number of Victorian buildings owned by the London Borough of Sutton remain between the school and the location of the proposed new hospital, but these are in poor condition and not fit for modern healthcare, as well as being outside of the site boundary and part of the London Borough of Sutton’s London Cancer Hub plans.

The Victorian hospital building on the site of the proposed new build belongs to the Royal Marsden Hospital and is of similar design to the London Borough of Sutton buildings. It is too small to provide the accommodation needed.

31. What are you doing to make this a sustainable development?

We are proposing to deliver a highly sustainable hospital that brings the NHS one step closer to their commitment to achieve net zero carbon by 2050. The hospital is intended to be net zero carbon, which will be achieved through reducing energy consumption, and eliminating fossil fuels such as gas. Our ambition is for the SECH to be one of the few all-electric hospitals in the country.

We are looking at using natural materials for the hospital building to increase sustainability, such as terracotta and natural brick. We are also currently exploring the façade treatment of the building and how the materials will be laid out.

An important part of our plans is to encourage more people to use sustainable transport when they come to use or work at the new hospital such as walking, cycling and public transport. To enable this, we are developing a travel plan, which will be submitted as part of the planning application, outlining a package of measures to promote active travel, with an emphasis on promoting alternatives to driving. This will include, for example, the provision of cycle spaces and potentially a ‘cycle hub’ at the ground floor of the car park where people can repair or store their bikes.

32. Why is the main entrance being brought closer to Cotswold Road and at a first-floor level? Will this cause overlooking into first floor residential bedrooms?

The main entrance is to the north of the site and is accessible on the lower ground level. This then rises to the upper ground level within the building, to its centre, and there would be no views from the concourse space into any residential bedrooms.

The drop off entrance to the west of the building is accessible from the lower ground level behind a belt of existing trees on Cotswold Road.

Some of the previous sketches show that this access was on the upper ground level however due many reasons, including feedback from local stakeholders, the emerging design has relocated to the lower ground level.

33. What impact on sight lines would the new hospital have, particularly from Cotswold Road at the southern side of the site?

As part of the Environmental Impacts Assessment, we are conducting extensive light, visual and acoustic impacts of the proposal on the local area.

We have attempted to position the building to mitigate the impact on views as much as possible – for example, we step the building down to three storeys where it is closest to residential buildings and we will utilise the existing trees to provide a natural screening.

At this point, we do not expect the new building will have a significant impact on views.