{"id":1057067,"date":"2026-06-29T07:47:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T07:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1057067\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T07:47:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T07:47:59","slug":"womens-health-services-at-st-helier-hospital-in-sutton-to-be-moved-to-temporary-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1057067\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s health services at St Helier Hospital in Sutton to be moved to ‘temporary’ site"},"content":{"rendered":"

It comes after two types of bacteria were located in its water pipes\"St<\/p>\n

St Helier Hospital in Sutton was founded in 1938, making the most of the buildings older than the NHS itself.(Image: St George\u2019s, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals (GESH))<\/p>\n

A hospital’s women’s health block just outside Surrey will be relocated to a ‘temporary’ site, its NHS<\/a> trust has announced. This comes after two types of bacteria were located in its water pipes, which are older than the NHS itself.<\/p>\n

St Helier Hospital in Sutton has been left forced to announce the relocation of its women’s health block. The hospital, which began construction in 1938, has been awaiting a Government-funded rebuild for a number of years<\/a>, but is set to wait until 2033<\/a> according to reports.<\/p>\n

The announcement came earlier this week after the St George’s, Epsom<\/a> and St Helier University Hospitals and Health Group (GESH) said it found low levels of Legionella and Pseudomonas bacteria in the block during a scheduled water sampling exercise. GESH explained the building\u2019s water is safe, with a range of measures such as filters in place and regular water testing taking place.<\/p>\n

These are said to have confirmed the current mitigations including water filters are effective. Just weeks ago, the trust announced it had secured a \u00a357m investment for the redevelopment of St Helier’s Emergency Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"St<\/p>\n

St Helier Hospital’s building has been described by MPs as “crumbling”, “dilapidated” and “not fit for 21st century healthcare”(Image: Harrison Galliven)<\/p>\n

The news was welcomed by both bosses at the trust and local MPs. Despite this, the trust revealed “significant work is needed” to provide a sustainable and permanent solution for its women’s health block.<\/p>\n

The pipework which was built before the Second World War will need to be replaced. During this time, services will need to be relocated and this is due to take place by spring 2027.<\/p>\n

The hospital in Carshalton offers a range of services at its women’s health block. This includes maternity, obstetrics, and gynaecology services.<\/p>\n

The facility provides both routine and emergency care for women, including a birthing centre, surgical clinics, and early pregnancy units. It is based to the east of the site, in between the Renal Unit, and the Pathology and Diagnostic unit.<\/p>\n

The trust explained that “no decisions have been made” about where each service will be relocated, however it aims to “maintain as many as possible” at St Helier. If any cannot be relocated in the hospital, the GESH Trust explained that it will look at available support across the rest of the trust, work with its local partners and the South West London Integrated Care Board to find the “best possible solution for our staff and local people”.<\/p>\n

The GESH Trust also operates Epsom Hospital and St George’s Hospital in Tooting. Alongside a number of other small facilities.<\/p>\n

\"Images<\/p>\n

Images of the hallways in St Helier’s Hospital, where staff are reportedly working in areas with damp mould, leaking roofs, and floods.(Image: St George\u2019s, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals (GESH))<\/p>\n

Mat Shaw, GESH group chief executive, said: “This situation is immensely frustrating given the hard work that\u2019s gone into improving our services, as recognised in our recent CQC report<\/a>, and the national maternity experience survey, as well as feedback from the people we look after. It is clear to me, our staff who work in the building, and those who are cared for in it, that we have great women\u2019s services at St Helier.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, doing work in the building while services are running would place unacceptable risks to both patients and colleagues. No decisions have been made about where each service will be temporarily located, however we hope to keep as many as possible at St Helier.”<\/p>\n

Two forms of bacteria were found in “low levels” in the block. Legionella causes Legionnaires’ disease, which is a severe pneumonic and Pontiac fever.<\/p>\n

Infection occurs through the inhalation of aerosolized water droplets. Pseudomonas causes wound, bloodstream, urinary, or lung infections.<\/p>\n

This typically occurs through direct contact with contaminated water or ingestion. GESH has told women and their families they that should continue to access women\u2019s health services at St Helier Hospital in the “usual way”.<\/p>\n

It added that once decisions have been made on where services will be temporarily relocated to in spring next year, the trust will communicate that with patients and its communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It comes after two types of bacteria were located in its water pipes St Helier Hospital in Sutton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1057068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4316],"tags":[62948,105,4348,2207,211,44834,16,15],"class_list":["post-1057067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-epsom","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-hospitals","tag-nhs","tag-sutton","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116832300532353193","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1057067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1057067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1057068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1057067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1057067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1057067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}