154 care home places and flats coming to Queen Mary’s Hospital’s former Maternity Unit site in Sidcup
A new care home and extra care apartment block will open in spring 2019 on the former site Queen Mary’s Hospital’s Maternity Unit.
The unit in Sidcup closed back in 2010 forcing people in Bexley borough onto long and expensive trips (numerous buses or high parking fees) to neighbouring boroughs for services. Hopes of a return were dashed after a fire in 2015, and then last year revised plans were approved to build the care home and flats were approved.
New buildings will incorporate “80 bed care home over 3 storeys and 74 extra care apartments over 4-storeys with associated access roads, provision of 69 parking spaces and landscaping”.
Ironically if the large number of elderly residents fall ill they will not have an adjacent A&E unit to go to. The A&E unit closed alongside the Maternity Unit. A trip to Woolwich Common is hardly quick or easy with congestion.
New build block
The design is pretty dull. Bexley Borough tends to get a lot of these types of plans which include balconies tacked onto exteriors in a basic frame though this is fare from the worst example.
So does this mean there’s no chance of A&E and maternity returning? Not quite, though it certainly makes it more difficult. Bexley Council have recently launched their Growth Strategy which foresees a massive increase in new homes and residents.
These numbers of new homes are planned:
Thamesmead: 4,000+
Belvedere: 8,000+
Erith: 6,000+
Slade Green: 8,000+
Bexleyheath: 1,500
Welling: 400+
Sidcup: 400+
Crayford: 1000+
Expecting more and more people to head to Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich doesn’t see feasible given a fast rising population in Greenwich Borough, and similarly huge future plans for growth at areas such as Charlton (at least 8,000 homes) and Greenwich Peninsula (more than 20,000).
This show rises in Greenwich and London since 2011:
No real answer seems incoming about increases in future hospital capacity. How long can it be put off?
