HC Deb 25 January 2001 vol 361 cc660-1W
Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what factors underlay his Department's decision to relocate the facilities at Haslar to Queen Alexandra, Southampton and Selly Oak hospitals; what the overall cost is of these changes; and if he will make a statement. [146604]

Dr. Moonie

The judgment was made in 1998 that the Royal Hospital Haslar would not remain viable as a stand-alone military hospital as it did not have the case mix and volume of patients to support the training accreditation required for Service medical personnel. Following an internal review the decision was taken to close Haslar and to open a MOD Hospital Unit at the Queen Alexandra hospital in order to retain a military medical presence in the Portsmouth area. In parallel, it was decided to establish a Centre for Defence Medicine (CDM) to provide a strong professional focus for Defence medicine. After competition, the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust, which embraces the Queen Elizabeth hospital and the Selly Oak hospital, was selected as our principal partner in the CDM, and as such, it will play an important part in the running of this important academic, teaching, and clinical centre. There are no plans to relocate any facilities from Haslar to Southampton.

It has been the practice of successive Governments to withhold detailed financial planning assumptions (under exemption 2 of the Code of Practice of Access to Government Information). In broad order terms, however, we estimate that over the next four years (our formal planning period) establishing and developing the Centre for Defence Medicine—including the move of Royal Defence Medical College functions—and preparing for the move from Haslar to Cosham will cost about £30 million in additional running costs and capital expenditure. It is not yet certain, however, whether all the capital expenditure will need to be incurred. The annual running costs of the Centre for Defence Medicine will be more than offset by the savings at Haslar and Royal Defence Medical College once the transition is complete.