Berwick’s new £35 million hospital, originally due to open in 2022, will now open in 2028.
The building’s interior will be stripped out due to defective work by original contractors Merit, which collapsed into liquidation in November 2025.
Northumberland County Council (NCC) Councillors have stated they would support any public enquiry into the original contractor.
At NCC’s Health and Wellbeing Overview Scrutiny Committee meeting, on 1 September, Chair, Councillor Georgina Hill, described the build to date as ‘botched in many ways’.
Project-lead, Damon Kent, Managing Director of Estates and Facilities at the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHNHSFT) said stripping back to ‘the frame, the main building’s exterior walls’ is part of the remedial works.
This will require additional expense and Mr Kent said the final costs for the project are as yet unknown. New contractor, Robertsons Construction Ltd, is in the process of completing the assessment it started earlier this year.
What is clear is that opening day will now not happen before Spring/Summer 2028.
The OSC recommended that it would ‘support a public inquiry or other mechanism for accountability around the appointment and activity of the original contractor.’
The £35 million Berwick Community Hospital, formerly Berwick Infirmary, originally had a £25 million budget, these funds loaned by NCC to the Trust.
Damon Kent works alongside second project-lead, Marion Dickson, Executive Director for Nursing, Midwifery, Allied Health Professionals, Surgery and Community Services at NHNHSFT.
Earlier this year Mr Kent took up the additional role of MD at QE Facilities (QEF), a subsidiary of Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust.
A deep-dive into the Berwick Hospital saga will be published in the next print issue of The Bridge, due in an outlet near you around 9 September.
What this report doesn’t mention is that at the committee meeting Damon Kent also couldn’t say where the extra money would come from. Possibly NHS England? And what if they say no? As the extra cost figure is currently unknown (though committee chair Georgina Hill did mention a notional amount of £15m over the last figure of £35m) we are in very uncertain territory. Construction costs whether domestic or commercial have risen hugely in recent years.
Until the extra finance is confirmed I would suggest that “the hospital will now open in 2028” referred to in the intro is sadly pure speculation.
Berwick deserves better … very much better.
Thanks Diane – Just putting together a comprehensive report from as much info as I can obtain to go in the next print issue. Hope you’ll buy. All feedback very welcome. Wendy, Editor
As a governor of Northumbria Trust for 12 years, and a resident in Berwick I want to be kept informed. I am still a member of Northumbria NHS trust but I do not feel I am kept informed
Has there been an independent audit of the project to support the need for “the building’s interior to be stripped out due to defective work” and to determine necessary remediation?
Good question re ‘independent’.
Damon Kent, the project-lead, has publicly conveyed the strip-out will happen. See the link in the article to the NCC Overview Scrutiny Committee meeting of Tuesday this week. The Robertson Construction Ltd remedial assessment is ongoing and Mr Kent said the programme of works will be published in the coming ‘month or two’. As yet the total additional costs, which Damon Kent said will be incurred, are unclear.