The Government has today made a detailed announcement about Harlow’s new hospital as part of their “Levelling Up White Paper”. The announcement states that “a new integrated, high-tech healthcare campus to replace the ageing Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow” will be built. The White Paper also confirmed the £23.7 million Harlow Town Deal to kickstart key regeneration projects.
Harlow’s MP, Robert Halfon, campaigned for many years to secure a new Harlow hospital. He led five parliamentary debates, tabled eleven parliamentary motions, asked more than forty questions, held dozens of meetings with Ministers and welcomed the Health Secretary and Prime Minister to Princess Alexandra Hospital in 2019. Shortly after the visit, the Prime Minister announced that Mr Halfon’s passionate campaign had been successful and that he had secured a new Harlow hospital. Mr Halfon’s campaign was described by one former Health Minister as “a record in the House of Commons”.
The Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust have drawn up detailed plans for the new hospital campus and the Government’s announcement today has committed to delivering that new “integrated, high-tech healthcare campus to replace the ageing Princess Alexandra Hospital”. This was a stark contrast in language to other hospital projects such as “new hospital buildings at Watford General Hospital” and “the refurbishment of Hemel Hempstead”.
Commenting on the announcement, Harlow’s MP, Robert Halfon said: “This is fantastic news for our town. I worked hard for many years in Parliament to secure a new hospital for our town which the Prime Minister announced in 2019. The Levelling Up White Paper announced today makes clear that this will be “a new integrated, high-tech healthcare campus” which will bring healthcare in Harlow into the twenty first century.
With the move of the UK Health Security Agency, the world-leading businesses located in our Enterprise Zone and a new high-tech healthcare campus, Harlow is fast becoming the public health science capital of Europe.
“I have nothing but huge admiration for every member of staff who works at PAH: the consultants, doctors, nurses, midwives, porters, cleaners, admin and ancillary staff who work tirelessly to care for our town. I am so pleased that their endless hard work has paid off and we will see a state-of-the-art hospital health campus in our town to support their work.
“I will continue to work hard to drive this development forward and to ensure that Harlow’s new hospital campus delivers exactly what is needed for our town.”
