Imperial plans £600m upgrade across ageing London hospitals

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is planning to invest more than £600 million over five years to improve clinical spaces, replace equipment and reduce risks across its ageing hospital estate.

The programme includes approximately £80 million for priority maintenance and £128 million for new medical equipment and technology, including an advanced surgical robot. A further £215 million will support four major improvement schemes across the trust’s hospital sites.

Investment will cover St Mary’s, Charing Cross, Hammersmith, Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea, and the Western Eye hospitals. The programme will be funded through a combination of national NHS allocations, the trust’s own resources and charitable contributions.

The trust has warned that its buildings face significant structural, safety and operational problems following years of underinvestment. Its backlog maintenance liability rose by £157 million over four years, an increase of 22.5%, while only £104 million was available to address outstanding work during the same period.

St Mary’s, Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals are included in the government’s New Hospital Programme, but major construction work is not currently expected to begin until between 2035 and 2039. Imperial is pursuing alternative funding options in an attempt to accelerate the rebuilding of St Mary’s, where the need is considered most urgent.

The five-year investment is intended to keep services operating safely and improve conditions for patients and staff while longer-term redevelopment plans progress. Trust leaders said the programme would deliver the greatest possible immediate benefit, but warned that full rebuilding and refurbishment remained the only sustainable answer to the estate’s underlying problems.

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