Chancellor George Osborne has today announced the government will invest £2 million in a new £4.8 million children’s emergency and trauma department at Southampton Children’s Hospital.
Commenting on the announcement, Fiona Dalton, chief executive of University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are absolutely delighted the chancellor has agreed to invest £2 million towards a new children’s emergency and trauma department for children from across the South of England.
“We are extremely proud of the excellent clinical care our staff already deliver every day but, in order to maintain our high standards over the coming years, it is vital we improve and expand our children’s hospital facilities to meet increasing levels of demand.
“This funding, in addition to the £800,000 already invested by the trust, enables us to move forward with our plans – but we wouldn’t find ourselves in this position if we had not been fortunate enough to have the support of some very passionate and dedicated campaigners.
“We would like to say a special thank you to the Murray Parish Trust, Winchester MP Steve Brine and his parliamentary colleagues and our local media for their fantastic efforts to drive this campaign forward but, most importantly, to our patients – past and present – and their families, staff and members of the public.
“We have seen an amazing display of teamwork from so many people to get us to this point and we now look forward to working with our partners to begin planning a fundraising campaign to meet the remainder of the costs.”
