There has been a lot of discussion and interest on the new Frimley Park Hospital. Recently, the Trust and our Integrated Care Board partners also appeared before the new Frimley Park Hospital Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee to update on our plans. 

We would like to now share a clear update on where things stand, what decisions have been made and our next steps. 

Our latest position

  • While our site selection process is progressing well, a final decision has not been made for a new main acute site. As soon as commercial negotiations conclude we will be able to make an announcement - which we hope to be in June, subject to the completion of due diligence and required local and national approvals. This site will be within a five-mile radius of the existing hospital. 
  • Any announcement we make about a preferred site for the new main hospital will be the start of a process – not the end. Much more detailed work is then completed before a final decision can made and approved locally and nationally - including extensive traffic and transport modelling, a planning application and a significant period of engagement with communities. 
  • We have proposed a preferred way forward in our latest business case submission: A new main site, the repurposing of non-Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) buildings at the existing Frimley Park site and the expansion of Heatherwood Hospital. Wider developments supporting the proposal include Wexham Park Hospital investments, Community Diagnostic Centres and Neighbourhood Health Hubs. 
  • Frimley Park Hospital remains a prioritised ‘Wave 1’ scheme because of RAAC. 
  • While a recent independent National Audit Office report highlights that none of the RAAC hospitals nationally will open until 2032–33, our focus locally is unchanged: maintaining safe care every day and working with national partners to deliver the earliest possible start for our new hospital.  
  • Continued engagement with our communities is vital: See our draft ‘Engagement Cycle’ explained within this update and help input into our plans. 

We encourage you to watch the full recording of the committee session, which also includes the national new hospital programme presenting on their assurance of our site selection process, and on Hospital 2.0. It’s available here: Agenda for Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee (Frimley Park Hospital) on Wednesday, 25 February 2026, 3.00 pm - Surrey County Council  

Lance McCarthy, Chief Executive  

Caroline Hutton, Deputy Chief Executive and executive lead for the new hospital 

A once in a generation opportunity

This is an exciting time for the NHS. The Government’s new 10-year NHS plan focuses on three key strategic shifts that will require generational change. These are: 

  1. Hospital to Community: Moving care closer to home, focusing on neighbourhood health services, and reducing reliance on acute hospital settings. 
  2. Analogue to Digital: Implementing new technology to free up staff, enhance patient experience, and create a single, patient-owned record. 
  3. Sickness to Prevention: Shifting focus to early intervention, proactive care, and addressing the root causes of illness to reduce long-term demand. 

To make these changes work, our whole local health and care system will need to change together. 

Our new System and Trust strategies have been developed to lead this change locally, and are underpinned with other strategies and plans for digital, workforce, estates, communications, clinical and more.  

So where does the new hospital fit in?

The new hospital is a new building. The new hospital programme is much more. It’s about how we will deliver care and shape our services differently to patients and for our local communities to meet the future needs of our populations.  

The models of care you’ll experience are going to be very different to how we provide care currently. We will ensure we can deploy the best new and emerging digital and clinical technologies, and modern approaches to care, in everything that we do.  

Our strategic outline case and our ‘preferred way forward’ support this required transformation. 

Delivering change now 

We are already delivering plans that will support our new ways of working, with the Trust and partners within our health system opening two new community hubs bringing care closer to home. 

Slough Community Diagnostic Centre

Frimley Health has a successful history in delivering state-of-the-art new facilities, including most recently the new Heatherwood Hospital and the Frimley Park extension.

This is set to continue with the introduction of the Trust’s new world-class Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) which will provide diagnostics services for 150,000 more patients each year in the Slough area. The CDC opened at the beginning of March and is a significant part of our wider plans to deliver care closer to home so patients need fewer hospital visits, using technology to speed up diagnosis and improve safety. 

Read more: New Slough Community Diagnostic Centre opens

Bracknell’s new healthcare facility

The new Bracknell Forest Centre for Health is part of the national drive to boost community-based healthcare services, away from traditional acute hospital settings.  

Opening soon, the centre will host two GP practices as well as services for the wider Bracknell Forest population, including maternity services provided by Frimley Health. 

RAAC improvements keeping patients and staff safe

At the end of 2025, a Mott MacDonald report commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care found that Frimley Park Hospital’s RAAC safety and structural maintenance works are effective and suitable to keep services and people safe beyond 2030, but confirmed the new hospital is essential and the only way to fully deal with the risk. 

About 65% of the hospital is affected by RAAC planks including many of the core areas such as wards, theatres, maternity units, the hospital corridors, and ICU. 

Our rolling programme of maintenance works to the current building will continue as will close working with the national teams to follow all guidance and requirements, ensuring we continue to provide a safe environment for our patients and staff. This work will remain a priority until the new hospital opens. 

Engaging our communities and staff

The Trust has developed a new framework to engage with our staff, patients and local communities throughout the new hospital programme – it’s called our ‘engagement cycle’.

Our approach will focus on four areas of the cycle: 

  • Analyse and plan 
  • Co-design and scrutinise 
  • Deliver and engage 
  • Review, learn and improve. 

As part of this approach, we will strengthen how questions and feedback are responded to, including clearer follow-up where answers are not immediately available, and signposting to further information as work progresses. 

Our draft engagement cycle is available to review online and we encourage feedback and input into it:  FHFT NHP Engagement Cycle  

Email feedback before April 3 2026 to: fhft.newfphcomms@nhs.net  

Answering your questions

On transport

Transport and access are important features of the planning for the new hospital, and high-level transport and traffic analysis and evaluation has been completed on a number of preferred sites. These initial assessments help inform site selection and viability.  

To ensure value for the taxpayer, intensive travel and transport surveys and modelling will take place after we have a preferred site confirmed. This is to prevent public funds being used to undertake these more comprehensive and costly and time-consuming surveys on multiple sites.  

These detailed surveys and analysis will be shared publicly as will our plans that arise from them. 

Did you know?

We’re proposing to keep a significant amount of outpatient and diagnostic activity on the repurposed non-RAAC Frimley Park estate and not move it to the new main hospital site.  We estimate over 50% of the current traffic at Frimley Park Hospital is outpatient and diagnostic activity.