Much-needed extension to be built at overstretched Milton Keynes University Hospital

Milton Keynes University Hospital is to be extended, with two complete new wards being built, it has been announced.

A new block called Oak Wards is to be built to the east of the existing hospital building and it will provide 48 much-needed beds.

There is also the potential to double the capacity to a total of 96 medical beds with a second expansion phase in the future, said MKUH chief executive Joe Harrison.

"This development plays a pivotal role in providing a hospital that can meet the acute care needs of the growing city of Milton Keynes. We are enthusiastic about the prospect and the positive impact these plans promise to bring,” he said

The hospital was opened in1984 but since then the population of the city has grown rapidly and it is serving tens of thousands more patients.

The new wards are still in the “early stages of planning” said Mr Harrison.

“As part of the hospital’s wider infrastructure works, groundwork activity is currently taking place at the potential site for Oak Wards. This larger scheme of work will provide a necessary upgrade to utilities that serve the hospital,” he added

"Should the Trust’s business case for Oak Wards be approved, the hospital anticipates that construction would start late summer this year, with an aimed completion date of December 2025.”

The growth requirements of MKUH have seen the delivery of several high-profile site improvement projects over recent years, including a new Main Entrance, Academic Centre and Cancer Centre.

More recently, the Maple Centre development opened in October 2022, delivering an integrated approach to Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) for patients, as well as an acute assessment ward.

The hospital site is currently developing its cancer care service with a new state-of-the-art radiotherapy centre, which is due to ted this summer.

The Trust is also to receive funding to deliver a new Women’s and Children’s Hospital by 2030. The £200m funding for this was approved by the government in May last year, with the intention of bringing together maternity, paediatric and obstetrics services all under one roof on the hospital site.