Five new hospital units are set to be built in Dorset, and two in Somerset as part of a £3.7 billion project.

The government say they will build ‘40 new hospitals’ nationwide by 2030, including 11 in the south west. However it appears these ‘new hospitals’ are actually new units at existing hospitals.

Somerset can look forward to a new cancer hospital at Royal United Hospital in Bath and a rebuild of Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton. Dorset will see a new community hospital, emergency department and intensive care unit at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester, new community hospital hubs in Bournemouth and Christchurch, a rebuild of Poole Community Hospital and a new mental health centre at St Ann’s Hospital in Poole.

Natalie Forrest – a registered nurse who has worked in the NHS for over 30 years – has been appointed to oversee the construction programme. Ms Forrest led the construction and set-up of the NHS Nightingale Hospital in London in response to the pandemic. She did this alongside her role as chief executive of Chase Farm Hospital in North London, where she led operational and clinical teams to design an ‘innovative and ground- breaking new hospital’.

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