Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust joins Future Cities Forum

Above: Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has appointed Perkins&Will, led by Penoyre & Prasad with Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, to deliver two state-of-the-art hospitals integrated into a single building on the Leeds General Infirmary site. The 94,000m² building will include a new home for Leeds Children’s Hospital, as well as an adults’ hospital and maternity centre.

The appointment follows a competition held by the Trust in 2021 to find an architect to design its “Hospitals of the Future” project—one of 40 new hospitals that the UK government has committed to build by 2030 as part of its New Hospital Programme (NHP) - CGI from Penoyre & Prasad

We are delighted that the Head of Strategy, James Goodyear, at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will be speaking in May at our 'Levelling-up 2022' forum, to be held in the offices of international law firm DLA Piper.

The Trust is developing training and job opportunities through a social initiative this year, around the building of a new adults' hospital and home for Leeds Children's Hospital on the Leeds General Infirmary site, and will be working closely with its design and construction partners.

This will involve apprenticeship programmes, school engagement events, and work experience opportunities - targeted at areas surrounding the new hospital's development as well as some of the city's most deprived neighbourhoods. The city of Leeds experiences the third highest level of inequality in the UK, with 24% of its population being in the 10% most deprived areas nationally.

James said:

'It will help increase the wider economic and social impact of the hospital's development as well as addressing a diverse range of wider social, environmental and economic factors.

The new Leeds hospitals' scheme is among 40 new hospitals the Government has committed to build by 2030. The trust is one of the largest employers in the Leeds region, with 20,000 staff and plays a leading role in research, education and innovation.

Building the new hospitals will release around five hectares of prime city-centre estate on the Leeds General Infirmary site which will be redeveloped as part of the Leeds Innovation District.

This development is expected to bring about economic benefits for the city and wider region of up to £11.2bn in net present value terms and create more than 3,000 jobs.

The Leeds Innovation District is a strategic partnership between Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, the Leeds Universities, and Leeds City Council to develop a world-class hub for healthcare, industry partnerships, innovation and research. It has already seen investment from the University of Leeds in its £40million Nexus innovation hub, and in the £80 million investment in the Leeds Beckett University of Film, Music and Performing Arts, among others.

Dame Linda Pollard, chair of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said the building of the two new hospitals and the redevelopment of part of the old hospital estate as part of the Innovation District, is the most important development in Leeds city centre for a generation:

“It is fitting that the old site, which has served us well for more than 150 years, is transformed to ensure that here in Leeds, we continue to be at the forefront of med-tech and digital advancements for years to come,” she said.

Simon Worthington, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s Director of Finance said:

"Research and innovation is at the heart of everything Leeds Teaching Hospitals does. The digital and innovation agenda is changing how patients access clinical services and how the Trust provides care for its patients. Digital technology and world-leading innovative techniques will be central to the services provided in the new hospitals.”

The concept of the Leeds Development Plan is already being tested with the recently launched Innovation Pop Up based at Leeds General Infirmary. This builds on the Trust’s substantial track record of excellence in research and innovation and is a place where translational research and innovation approaches will take place to test new ideas and develop collaborations with clinical innovators and entrepreneurs.

The Pop Up’s first member/partner is 3D LifePrints, a medical 3D printing company who design and manufacture patient-specific medical devices. Since becoming part of the Innovation Pop Up they have established contacts with Paediatric Cardiology, Cranio Maxillofacial and Neurosurgery teams on the hospital site.

Henry Pinchbeck, CEO of 3D LifePrints, said: “Opening in Leeds has been a long term objective for 3D LifePrints and the Innovation Pop Up is an ideal location for our Point of Care Hub. The Pop Up’s advantageous location within the hospital ensures that surgeons are able to directly interact with our technology within minutes of being on the wards.”

Henri Murison, Director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “Investment in infrastructure isn’t just an investment in bricks and mortar, it’s an investment in people and skills too, and it’s wonderful to see the dream of two new hospitals for Leeds progressing in this way and enabling further innovative investment into the city:

“Not only will the hospitals provide the people of the city with world class health care for the 21st century, but they will also unlock the Leeds Innovation District and help bring jobs, investment and prosperity in health innovation to both Leeds and the wider corridor across the Pennines, building on world-class capabilities.”

Disused buildings on the site of the new hospitals are already being demolished and the Trust aims to start construction in 2023 to align its work with the Government’s New Hospitals Programme which has committed to build 40 hospitals by 2030, backed by an initial £3.7 billion investment.

The wider programme will provide the benefits of working at scale and allow the sharing of experience in areas such as digital technology, sustainability and modern methods of construction.

By working in this collaborative way the Trust’s Hospitals of the Future programme will maximise both benefits and efficiencies and ensure delivery of state-of-the-art healthcare facilities, which also represents value for money for the taxpayer.

Other goals of the trust are to ensure the highest standards of patient care and to ensure that staff are highly training. The trust has set out it vision as follows:

'We will continue our systematic approach to quality improvement and management. To do this we are expanding and embedding the Leeds Improvement Method, empowering our staff to improve care processes in partnership with patients. Our Quality Review Framework supports Clinical Service Units to assess, identify and outline improvements. We will apply a systematic approach to the measurement of safety, patient experience, continuous learning, leadership and governance, ensuring accountability for improvement against key outcomes.

'Having sufficient highly trained staff is crucial for providing high quality care. We will therefore continue to invest in and develop our workforce. A key focus for this is expanding our nursing and midwifery workforce. We will offer comprehensive development for staff, supporting them to deliver outstanding care. Involving patients and the public is key to understanding the value of services and how we can improve. We listen to and empower our patients and the public.

'We will develop quality improvement partners; experts drawn from our patients and including members of the public who can support us to develop services in line with patient priorities.

'We want LTHT to have the most engaged workforce in the NHS. There is clear evidence that an enthusiastic, motivated and empowered workforce is most likely to provide outstanding care for our patients.

Future Cities Forum will also be discussing the development of the Leeds as a sustainable city with the Leader of Leeds City Council, Cllr James Lewis and workspace investor-developer Bruntwood's Head of Strategy, Jessica Bowles.

Below: CGI from Penoyre and Prasad of outside terrace at the proposed new Leeds Children's Hospital, where patient care and well-being is at the centre of the design with all wards orientating toward the outdoors, maximising exposure to daylight and good views. Communal spaces also feature throughout, including a rooftop plaza at the heart of the children’s hospital. A garden terrace on the fifth floor of one of the hospitals, complete with plants mirroring the local landscape, as well as green space in the site’s car park, draws inspiration from the surrounding verdant environment.