Council approves funding to expand hospital services

Rutland County Council has approved investing £1.6m to help expand hospital services.

The council's cabinet gave the go-ahead to proposals on Tuesday to spend £1.6m to support the refurbishment of minor illness and injury service, as well as upgrade X-ray services at Rutland Memorial Hospital in Oakham.

It added the investment would leverage an additional £650,000 of funding from the Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (ICB), making a total investment of £2.25m.

According to council documents, the funding was the "most significant investment" in health facilities in the county over the last decade.

A report prepared for the meeting said the funds would be used to refurbish the left-hand side of the hospital, including the X-ray suite, which would be equipped with a new X-ray machine.

The authority said the hospital was aiming to restore a pre-pandemic X-ray service of five days a week, as it currently offers the service two days a week.

It added it would expand the number of consultation rooms from three to six, doubling the space available for Oakham Medical Practice.

The council added the funds would help support the provision of a same-day minor illness and injury service, which was launched on 1 April.

The report detailed the funds would come from the Community Infrastructure Levy, which is collected from housing development to provide necessary infrastructure.

It said over the last decade the Rutland had experienced an increase of about 1,500 homes, equivalent to 8.9% growth.

Diane Ellison, cabinet member for adults and health, said: "This is fantastic news for Rutland residents, who have been calling for more investment in local health services for a long time.

"The money that we're injecting into Rutland Memorial Hospital on their behalf will help to improve facilities and services, which in turn means better care closer to home for people living and working in Rutland."

Council documents said the programme start date for the works was October 2026, with completion anticipated by October 2027.

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