North Manchester General Hospital is being rebuilt – but what happens now?

The first momentous step towards transforming a deprived corner of Manchester was taken this week. North Manchester General Hospital will be rebuilt, the government has finally said.

Hospital bosses spent years mired in uncertainty as previous governments refused to commit a figure to fund the hospital’s rebuild, or confirm a real date when building would start in earnest. But this week, Health Secretary West Streeting took to the dispatch box to tell the House of Commons that North Manchester General is now a priority, with building to start as soon as 2027.

The situation at the hospital has become dire, according to medics who work there every day. Its crumbling Victorian walls hold up collapsing ceilings. Operating theatres have been forced to shut down.

So, after more than five years of waiting, watching, and wondering – this is what happens next.

Unfortunately, the immediate aftermath will look the same. North Manchester General Hospital is in a state of such disrepair it has been described by some as akin to a '19th Century workhouse'. Staff report daily issues caused by the ageing estate.

Here, any spare funds are swallowed up – used merely to maintain the buildings’ basic functions on a day-to-day basis.

Still, following Monday’s announcement, the Manchester Evening News understands that medics ‘breathed a collective sigh of relief’. They say they are ‘delighted’ that they may finally get a workplace that matches their miraculous work, and that residents might at last get the hospital they deserve.

Some hospital staff have even started work on the next steps of the rebuild tonight, knowing that this transformation will save lives.

Manchester City Council leader Bev Craig, in an executive committee on Wednesday