Royal Cornwall Hospital receives biggest ever single investment county has seen in local health services
The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust will receive nearly £100 million to build a new Women's and Children's Hospital.
The funding is part of a £1.8 billion investment across the NHS in England announced today by the Government.
The £99.9 million funding for the Truro site is the biggest ever single investment Cornwall has seen in local health services.
The investment will fund the construction of a new building between the existing Tower Block and Trelawny Wing. The new site will have a number of services including:
Maternity
Neonatal care
Gynaecology
These services are currently operating from the Princess Alexandra Wing.
RCHT's Chief Executive welcomed the investment.
Ms Shields told ITV News the funding had "come out the blue". She added:
"We'd been talking about it for a long time - all of our partners in Cornwall with our MPs, there'd been a conversation about whether we were ever likely to get this funding".
Following the announcement, the health secretary has defended the spending pledge across the country. Matt Hancock has stressed the hospitals were chosen because they had the "best" improvements planned - not because they had cut their costs.
Critics of the PM's £1.8 billion cash injection for the health service expressed scepticism about whether the cash boost is new money.
Read more: Health secretary says new 'drop in the ocean' hospital spending is 'not recycled from the NHS'
Plans for the funding pledged to RCH's Truro site include a new main entrance for the hospital as well as changes to road layouts.
The Trust says it hopes to improve pedestrian zones too, in order to improve the environment and accessibility.