Architect Michael Innes is best known for his role in developing the Castle Mall.
The shopping centre concept was originally cautiously welcomed and initially branded by the City Council a "lovely idea but crazy". But it went on to be recognised as an architectural success.
His track record also includes the South Norfolk Council offices at Long Stratton, completed in 1978 and BUPA hospitals at Colney and Portsmouth.
Mr Innes, who lives at Thorpe, is a senior partner with Lambert Scott and Innes on Cattle Market Street.
A native of Devon, he has been a practising architect in Norwich since the 1960s.
He said he finds himself in an unfamiliar role, opposing a development, not selling it.
"I'm not a campaigner, I'm the one proposing developments, but the more I thought about it the less sense it made.
"Moving the hospital will be a disaster for Norwich and I do believe the public have not had a chance to debate the issue fully".
Hanratty B, Patterso W.
Three quarters of delegates drove to a conference on the impact of the environment on health.
BMJ 1998; 316: 775 http://bmj.com/
"Our experience suggests that if health and local authorities are to lead the way to a healthier nation then transport policies for their own staff may be agood place to start".
Hospital's £1.3bn Rent
Norwich's new district general hopsital at Colney is to cost the tax payer more than £1 billion over the next 60 years, it emerged today.
The annual rental bill will be an average of £22.8 million according to figures revealed today by NHS chiefs.
The news was greeted with shock from opponents of the new hospital although health chiefs insisted it was value for money.
N&N Health Care NHS Trust chief executive Malcolm Stamp said: "Three years ago I said as soon as we concluded negotiations we would release costs in the yearly accounts.
"We have done this.
"The £22.8 million is absolutely value for money and is saving the health service a fortune.
"We could not do a deal if it didn't save money.
"The rent includes all services, rent on the building, maintenance, depreciation and information technology.
"But at the end of the day this money has to be in perspective as we are a £130 million a year organisation," said Mr Stamp.
Nick Court, spokesman for the NHS Executive, one of the service's ruling bodies, said: "If you look at the bald figures it does look like a considerable sum but it is important to look at it in context.
"The hospital spends a considerable amount each year at the existing site."
June Farrow, of Keep Our Hospital in Norwich campaign, which opposed moving the hospital to Colney from the city centre, said she was horrified at the cost.
"I think people will be appalled at the cost," she said.
"They already have fears about the new hospital and this will make things worse.
"This is certainly too much money to pay. Profit should not be made from health care."
Under the Private Finance Initiative which funded the building of the new £213 million hospital, financiers the Octagon consortium agreed to finance and build the new hospital at Colney as a replacement for the city centre N&N.
In turn the trust agreed to pay back an annual cost to Octagon payable over 60 years - £1.368 billion.
Eastern Evening News
28th August 1998 (Comment)
"The general public does not stand a chance. We have too many of the right people in our pocket."
Philip Roberts, Consultant pathologist at the N&N 1991
In conversation with a KOHIN supporter
Larry Elliott writes in the "Guardian" 26th October 1998 "The need for the private sector to make a profit has been felt in service cuts and job losses. There are signs that the public, and Labour MPs, are starting to wake up to this."
"How big money is stitching up the NHS"
The Observer 13th December 1998. Will Hutton reports:- we're investing millions, but we'll end up with smaller hospitals and fewer beds. Where will the cash go? Private profits, not public health.
The Department of Health is robust in defense of the PFI. A spokesman said the fall in bed numbers, from 300,000 to 200,000 over the past 20 years, must be put in the context of a trend to downsize hospitals. Nor are PFI hospitals more expensive or necessarily smaller than facilities they replace; the DoH cites 15 hospitals where PFI bed numbers are unchanged.
It says the benchmark showing PFI hospitals as more expensive is wrong. Once the typical 18-19 per cent cost overrun on large publicly funded hospital contracts is taken into account, along with the commitment of the private consortium to service the maintenance of the hospitals during the 30 year contract, PFI hospitals are more cost effective than publicly funded hospitals.
But the DoH is being disingenuous with the truth.
Bed numbers have fallen over the past 20 years because of a massive transfer of long-stay beds for mental illness and long-stay geriatric care to residential homes in the private sector, in an act of covert privatisation. Health Secretary Frank Dobson is concerned enough to have launched a national bed inquiry.
NHS acute bed numbers in England have been stable over the past four years at about 108,000, and it is these beds that are being dramatically reduced under PFI schemes. When the department claims acute beds are little changed under the PFI, it is not comparing the bed numbers of existing hospitals with PFI bed numbers, but estimates of planned new beds under new schemes with the outcomes under the PFI. But, as planners calculate beds knowing they will be PFI financed, there is in effect no difference between planned new beds and PFI beds.
As for cost overrruns, again the department is dissimulating. There have been only seven large hospital projects over the past 20 years on which to base such claims, and Guy's Hospital, which Dobson likes to cite and where costs have more than doubled, was an example of a private-public partnership where the change to trust status provoked a £14 million liability to VAT - the biggest reason for the overrun.
In the past seven years the average cost overrun for NHS investment programmes has been about 8 per cent. Justifying the PFI because the NHS loses control of its costs while the private sector does not is not supported by the figures.
"Hospital on Nightmare Road"
Eastern Daily Press 29th December 1998 David Macauly reporting. A two page spread.
Much trouble about access to the new hospital which is in an advanced state of construction. Extensive quotes from Martin Shaw, Norfolk's director of planning and transportation, and from Graham Martin, chairman of Colney Parish Meeting. Fair to say that chaos reigns.
Dr Murray Gray, Chairman, Planning Committee, South Norfolk Council has his say.
Editorial in the EDP of the same date
"The bones of the new Norfolk and Norwich Hospital are being assembled at Colney, and this flagship PFI scheme is on course for opening in 2002.
It also looks, however, like taking into the next millennium one of the most common planning problems of the second half of this century - that of a major development being constructed without an adequate, let alone efficient, infrastructure.
The hospital site is only a short distance from the A47 and the A11. But there is no planning permission for a scheme giving it direct access on to the trunk road network. Instead, there are fears of Colney being plunged into an "environmental nightmare" as extra cars taking people to and from the hospital, the growing Norwich Research Park and the new sports park at the University of East Anglia add to congestion in the area.
Opponents of the Colney hospital site have long used transport problems as one of their main arguments, and now have just cause to say: "I told you so." We trust they will accept, however, that the hospital scheme is unstoppable and that nothing positive can be achieved by resurrecting the old divisions over the matter.
Supporters and opponents of the site should be able to see a common interest in pushing the county council, the Highways Agency and other authorities to secure the provision of a road access to the hospital, that is both efficient and relatively environmentally friendly, in time for its opening."
New hospital beds fear
A huge shortfall of beds at the new hospital being built at Colney could spark an unparalleled crisis as hundreds of patients are turned away, doctors warned today.
The fears emerged after a winter bed crisis hit medical services in the city. The Norfolk & Norwich Hospital, to be replaced by the privately financed hospital, had to refuse non-prority patients as it went on alert over Christmas.
Staff have been struggling to cope with demand despite extra beds for emergency admissions - up 50% for the time of year.
But the new £214 million hospital, due to replace the N&N and the West Norwich hospitals in 2002, is set to have almost 400 fewer beds.
A review is in place and doctors and the city's MPs are pleading with health chiefs to reconsider.
Dr Simon Lockett, local medical committee chairman, said; "It's very scary. GPs are very worried about the size of the new hospital. There clearly isn't spare capacity in times of need and winters aren't going to stop happenong."
Current projections say the new hospital will have 809 beds, considerably less than the current 1,200 at the two hospitals.
Concern was raised in a report to the British Medical Association last year, which predicted bed shortages and a crisis in patient care.
Malcolm Stamp, chief executive of the Norfolk & Norwich NHS Healthcare Trust, could not say whether the current crisis would lead to more beds.
"When we first started out on the new hospital we put into place a regular review procedure.
"We need to start making some decisions about what the number of beds at the new hospital will be. We need to be clear." (response)
Norwich North MP Dr Ian Gibson said: "Malcolm Stamp really ought to see this as a major priority. The problems this Christmas show how easy it is to be caught out."
A decision was previoussly made by a review committee, made up of various health bodies, to increase the number of beds from 701 to 809.
Norwich South MP Charles Clarke said: "Bed numbers need to be kept under constant review in the light of experience and projected need."
Dr John Noble-Nesbitt, chairman of Norwich Community Health Council, said: "There are more community based beds but the added pressures at winter need to be taken on board as well."
Eastern Evening News 4th January 1999
We're doing our best...
Mr Stamp said: "The hospital has already experienced an exceptionally busy winter period which has resulted in some operations being postponed and patients having to wait longer for treatment than we would wish.
"It is regrettable that any patient is inconvenienced in any way but every effort has been made by our staff to address the heavy work load."
Eastern Evening News 6th January 1999
"We want answers"
City MP Dr Ian Gibson is insisting that the scenes of Christmas chaos at Norfolk & Norwich Hospital's casualty department must never happen again.
He is backing the Evening News call for a quick reply from health chiefs on whether they plan to increase the number of beds at the new hospital being built at Colney.
But hospital bosses refused to say whether there would be extra beds - even though it was revealed that the new site will have to deal with thousands more patients than originally forecast.
The Norfolk & Norwich, due to be replaced by Colney in three years, had to refuse non-priority patients as demand soared over Christmas - up 50% for the time of year.
Dr Ian Gibson, MP for Norwich North, visited the Colney site yesterday and said another ward should be developed to cope with increasing demand.
"They have underestimated once and had to put the number of beds up.
"It was clear the figures were going to have to be revised again.
"They should be trying to convince the people of Norwich the facilities will be adequate and the scenes we've had this Christmas will never happen again".
The £214 million development due to replace the Norfolk & Norwich and the West Norwich hospitals in 2002, is set to have 809 beds compared to the 955 currently available.
Doctors have warned the shortfall could spark an unprecedented winter bed crisis.
The Norfolk & Norwich Healthcare NHS Trust said it could not make a decision on the number of beds until East Norfolk Health Authority told it how many patients the new hospital would deal with.
The current bed capacity was worked out from a projected 81,703 cases each year but an ongoing review is expected to agree to a new, and much bigger, workload for the hospital in the spring.
The same process in 1996 saw the trust increase bed numbers by 108.
And it has emerged the number of cases dealt with by the trust in the current year is likely to be about 92,000, says the health authority.
Dr Chris Price, health authority director of primary care, said: "Even in October 1996 there was already more work than the 87,703 cases being done - we left ourselves a margin then.
"The work has grown again since then and we are definitely going to be asking the trust how it will work with a higher number of cases."
Malcolm Stamp, trust chief executive, said: "For the case load of 87,703 we have been asked to deal with we are confident 809 beds are fine."
Mr Stamp said, once the results of the review were known, the trust would work out how to cope with the extra patients and work.
It might include providing extra day care places, shifting work to other hospitals or providing extra beds.
Eastern Evening News 16th January 1999
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