Major work planned to replace 'outdated' wards at Stepping Hill Hospital

Major work is being planned at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport to replace "outdated" wards with a new modern facility for inpatients, according to a planning application.

Plans submitted on behalf of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust have revealed designs for a building with room for two adult inpatient wards and space for 64 beds.

The proposed new facilities "will replace existing, outdated wards B4 and C4" with no increase in the hospital's capacity, staffing levels, or traffic levels according to the application. The majority of the site will be two storeys with a small section extending to three storeys.

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The aim of the new site on brownfield land on the hospital grounds is to "modernise the facilities and ensure that Stepping Hill Hospital can continue to provide the best care for its patients".

A reception area, waiting rooms, offices, a pharmacy, four six-bed wards and eight single-bed suites, utility space, storerooms and bathrooms are included in the designs.

Alongside the wards, a garden will be made between the proposed new site and the hospital building to the south with "woodland style" plants. The main entrance to the new building will be opposite the existing Outpatient Department B ward.

The land of the proposed development is currently empty and has not been used since 2019 when former wards A12 and A15 were demolished.

Stepping Hill Hospital was first opened in 1905 and was a military hospital in the First World War.

Every year around half a million patients use the hospital and 50 per cent of these are aged over 75 according to Trust figures.

The Trust which runs