£5.8million bill for abandoned hospital project
An NHS hospitals trust needed to find £5.8million to complete a crucial building project after it was abandoned and later restarted, it has been revealed.
The contract to bring two modular wards – and an extra 56 beds – to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital was restarted in May this year with a new contractor, ModuleCo, appointed to progress the scheme.
Chiefs at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust (SaTH) are confident that they will have the 56 beds open and taking patients in time to cope with the expected winter upsurge in illness.
SaTH’s annual report, published earlier this year, revealed that the trust revised its deficit as a “result of the abandonment of a build project which resulted in a £5.8m impairment charge.”
The abandonment of the project also had a big impact on the NHS ‘system’ finances across Shropshire.
The NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin’s annual report noted that the ‘system’ reported a “£17.9m deficit in the year ended March 31, 2025.
“This includes an impairment of £5.8m resulting from the abandonment of a capital build project at SaTH.”
Health campaigner David Sandbach, a former chief executive of Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital, is a regular attendee at meetings of health organisations.
Mr Sandbach said: “The real irritation is that they are not being transparent. They should be open and honest about what happened and own up to screwing up the contract for the modular wards.
“This has cost Joe Public £5.8million but they should be open and honest about it. It only needed a line of two in the annual report.”
SaTH has confirmed that the two new modular wards will have 56 beds and is being completed at a new location at the rear of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital site.
Original plans for modular wards near the roundabout at the front of the sprawling hospital site had planned for 64 beds.
SaTH says the new location will provide ‘better clinical adjacencies’ to the main hospital.
A spokesperson for the Trust said: “We are working hard with partners and the two wards are planned to open in 2025.
“This continues to remain a top priority for the trust recognising the pressures we that we continue to see at our hospitals.
“An additional £5.8m was required to complete the build with funding identified by the Trust in 2024/25.
“We are unable to comment further due to the commercial and contractual nature of the project.”
Mr Sandbach, who is planning to continue to quiz trust board members at future meetings, added that he has confidence in the current leadership of the trust to be able to get the extra beds up and running for winter.
The trust has a ‘planned deficit’ of £41million in its current account this financial year and recent meetings have been told that SaTH is currently on track to hit its savings milestones.
In August, 2025 SaTH told its Facebook followers that the modules have now been installed for its new 56-bed ward, delivered in partnership with ModuleCo
“Thanks to the incredible teamwork both in the factory and on-site, all 50 modules weighing over 750 tonnes, were installed a full month ahead of schedule,” said a spokesperson.
“This new facility will be operationally ready by the end of November, and we can’t wait to welcome our staff into the space over the coming weeks.”
