Plans for new £10m surgery unit scrapped

Plans for a £10m same-day surgery unit in Leicestershire have been scrapped.

The proposed unit was due to be built in Mount Road, Hinckley, replacing the 125-year-old Hinckley and District Hospital, after planning permission was approved by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council last year.

However, on Thursday the local Integrated Care Board (ICB) officially approved scrapping the plan to build the unit due to rising costs.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said board members agreed to move forward with the next steps for the site, with a proposal planned to be unveiled by the end of June 2026.

The day case unit was supposed to cater for 2,000 patients a year – twice the number seen annually at the old hospital – and would have provided breast care, general surgery, gynaecology, ophthalmology, orthopaedic surgery, pain management, and plastic surgery.

However, the LDRS said it was found that it would cost an additional £2m to build the unit.

Pete Burnett, chief strategy officer at the ICB, said there "wasn't the funding to build the building", but even if there was, he added, "there wasn't the activity to make it affordable".

"We can't keep it as it is," he said. "If the decision is approved today, that isn't the end.

"We need to go back and find out what is needed in terms of the future of the site."

Toby Sanders, chief executive of the ICB, said he understood how people might think scrapping the plan would seem "counterintuitive," but said the NHS has invested in other centres around the county, making the scheme "not viable".

He added: "There are clearly lessons to be learnt about how it's taken seven to eight years to get to this point, but the responsibility of this board is to acknowledge what is being put in front of us, and that this is no longer viable."

Sanders acknowledged the NHS "couldn't just leave" the existing hospital in its current state and the board would "look to the future" of the site.

Dr Luke Evans, Conservative MP for Hinckley and Bosworth, said the decision was "incredibly disappointing".

"While this is a setback, it is by no means a defeat," he added.

"The NHS have pledged to use the ring-fenced £2.7m to develop a proposal for the site that meets the needs of people in Hinckley and the surrounding villages.

"I will use all my power to convene those with authority to ensure this site stands derelict not a minute longer than it absolutely has to. That money must be spent in Hinckley."

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