Chapel Allerton Hospital: First look at £27m expansion plan including new surgery hub and car park in Leeds

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust's planning application, submitted to Leeds City Council on July 21, 2023, describes plans to create a new theatre and office extension.

The operating theatre will primarily be for spinal surgery, as the trust provides one of the largest spinal surgery services in the country, with more than 1,500 elective procedures, over 500 emergency operations and more than 12,000 clinical appointments each year. 

It also includes plans for a new ward which will support the new operating theatres as well as refurbishment of the hospital’s pharmacy in Block 8.

Professor Hemant Pandit, Clinical Director for Chapel Allerton Hospital, told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “We are proposing to invest £27 million in Chapel Allerton Hospital to allow more non-emergency surgeries to take place and reduce waiting times for patients. This is subject to consideration and approval by NHS England.

 “This planning application demonstrates the Trust’s vision for creating protected, specialised clinical areas to help us tackle the post-Covid planned operation backlog and ensure we are doing all we can to care for patients as soon as possible. It will be a huge step forward for patients and staff.

 “By having a dedicated Elective Care Hub away from the main hospital sites we will have capacity which we can confidently use all-year-round for planned surgery. It will help services be protected from surges in urgent care in winter, and reduce the uncertainty for patients around last minute cancellations. It will help to reduce the time patients wait for treatment.

 "If successful, the application by the Trust will see the creation of a new theatre and associated office extension building, a new surface car park, the realignment of the existing surface car park, and three electric vehicle parking spaces. There will also be new plant on the roof directly above Ward C7 and additional new covered plant works on the new extension building.”

The trust is also planning to provide shower facilities for staff cycling to work, a new staff rest area, a number of virtual clinic spaces, an external garden courtyard for staff and updating the faith room for staff and patients.

The proposed extension will be located to the southeast of the hospital site, connecting with the current Block 9, and will comprise four storeys sitting just below the roof line of the existing development.

Comments on the plans are to be submitted by Monday September 18, with the internal target date for a decision on Friday October 20.