A NEW hospital could be built in York by 2020, the Evening Press can reveal today.

But health chiefs say it will not hinder the £30 million-worth of ongoing improvement projects at the city's existing main NHS hospital.

Jim Easton, chief executive of York Hospitals NHS Trust, said the multimillion-pound new hospital would replace the existing Wigginton Road building, which is expected to reach the end of its useful life within the next 15 to 20 years.

The trust board was today being asked to consider the proposal for a new hospital.

Mr Easton said it was not yet certain where the hospital would be located, how much investment would be needed or the scale of the building, but that complex planning regulations would mean lengthy discussions with City of York Council.

York Hospital is halfway through a capital investment programme that will see developments such as a new multi-storey patient car park and a new and extended critical care unit in place by the end of 2006.

But despite these upgrades, Mr Easton said the hospital's needs would outgrow the building.

He said: "If we had put all our eggs in one basket and started to build a new hospital earlier, we would probably have had no funding for ten years and we didn't want to wait ten years to make improvements.

"We've made really good progress in the last three years and it's worth spending a few million to get care right, now. Our patients are experiencing care now, not in 15 years time.

"Medicine and technology changes incredibly quickly and we're doing more and more speciality things here in the hospital. A lot could happen in 15 years.

"Personally I'm determined to make sure patients experience high-quality care in a good quality environment and I hope the people of York are excited about the improvements we're making."

Professor Alan Maynard, the chairman of York Hospitals NHS Trust, said improvements would be made to York Hospital with an eye to moving in the future.

He said: "The current site is cramped, but we're investing a considerable amount of money in it in order to get good quality care. I agree to a new hospital in principle, but we still have a long way to go."

Steve Galloway, leader of City of York Council, said he predicted the trust would favour a central location for the site. Brownfield land could become available within the proposed timescale.

"Clearly it's good that they're (the trust) planning a long way in advance," he said. "We all accept that although they have done a lot of excellent work in terms of modernising, that we should aspire to the highest possible standards.

"It's difficult to have a hospital which is accessible by public transport routes and private car, and that will need careful consideration."

Coun Galloway said if the trust was looking for a new site, it would need to say so while the local plan, to last until 2021, was being negotiated.

He said: "My advice is that the trust needs to talk to us as soon as possible to get a designation put into the emerging local plan."

The current York Hospital cost £12 million and opened in the winter of 1976/77. When building began, it was described as a "major event" in the history of York.

Updated: 10:38 Wednesday, March 31, 2004