'After years of uncertainty this shows work is going to happen'

MORE than £50 million in funding has been approved for improvements to Leicester's hospitals.

- By DYLAN HAYWARD

NEW LOOK: An artist's impression of the six-storey extension to the Windsor Building at Leicester Royal Infirmary

(UHL NHS TRUST)

The money will pay for a new £12.8 million urgent treatment centre at Leicester Royal Infirmary anda £39 million overhaul of facilities across the city’s hospital sites.

The infirmary has the busiest emergency department in the country.

The other money has been approved for enabling work across University Hospitals of Leicester's three sites by the national New Hospital Programme (NHP) - the biggest hospital building programme in a generation, according to NHS England.

The enabling work will begin early next year and finish in early 2028, paving the way for the main construction phase of the New Hospital Programme in 2032.

Construction on the urgent care centre is expected to start in the first quarter of 2026 ahead of a 2027 opening.

It will replace the current MlaMI (minor injuries and minor illnesses) service and be located next to the Medical Same Day Emergency Care unit.