Better Environments: Redeveloping Tolworth Hospital

Transforming our environments 

We have a proud history of providing innovative mental health care across South West London. However, our aging estate has brought a number of challenges.

Until recently, we provided mental health services from facilities at Springfield Hospital that were over 150 years old. Springfield was built in 1840 as one of the first county asylums. Mental health services have also been provided at Tolworth Hospital for decades and many of the buildings there have long been out of use and are unsuitable for modern mental healthcare. 

Through the sale of surplus land not required for our services, and with some additional funding, we are investing nearly £300m through our Better Environments Programme to develop new facilities across Wandsworth, Richmond and Kingston in line with local consultations.

Breaking stigma, investing in our future 

In total, our estates transformation is supporting more than £1bn of investment in South West London across healthcare and urban development - boosting our local economy and delivering social, commercial and wellbeing benefits for our communities.

At the same time, this innovative programme is reimagining a new social landscape for our hospitals. Across South West London we are working to open up our sites to break mental health stigma and transform the relationships we have with our local communities for the better.

Throughout this journey we have been working hand-in-hand with the people we serve. Co-design, collaboration and engagement with our staff, patients, carers, service users, and wider community have been a central part of creating our new environments. Overall, our estate developments have been informed by hundreds of meetings, seminars and workshops with people across our communities. 

Redeveloping Tolworth Hospital 

Following the £150m redevelopment of Springfield Hospital in Wandsworth, the Trust is planning to invest over £100m to transform Tolworth Hospital in Kingston.

Early works are due to begin shortly ahead of construction scheduled for 2024. The new facilities will provide first-class environments for mental healthcare, giving people the best chance to recover in the best environments. This will also improve the experience of everyone who uses, works or comes into contact with mental health services in South West London, supporting our wider Trust mission, Making Life Better Together. 

Working with our master developer, STEP (Springfield & Tolworth Estate Partnership), we plan to remove old and unused buildings at the centre of the site and replace them with state-of-the-art facilities. These will provide accommodation for five existing wards, four of which will relocate from older facilities at Springfield and one which is already based at Tolworth. 

With plans for seven wards to operate at Tolworth from 2027, this will also enable the Trust to rebalance service provision across South West London, with a similar number of wards operating from both major inpatient centres from 2027. 

Our journey so far 

Our plans for Tolworth's redevelopment follows careful consultation with service users, carers and staff, over a number of years.

We have also worked closely with local councillors and community groups as we have progressed on this journey:

• In 2018 we received approval from Kingston Council to redevelop Tolworth and since then we have taken on board lessons learned at Springfield for the proposed works at Tolworth
• In 2022 we took the opportunity to revisit the plans, revise and improve them, to ensure we can provide the best possible facilities for our patients, staff and the community
  • Changes we are brought forward following this process include
    • Revising the layout of the new hospital to better reflect the needs of the Trust and the services we provide
    • Amending the appearance of the new hospital building, but retaining the brick-work design approach
    • Removing the two-storey car park and replacing with landscaped ground level parking to achieve a similar number of space
    • Revising the approach to energy, meaning we no longer need the previously approved separate energy centre
    • Retaining the existing Ellis Ward building adjacent to Draycot Road
    • Cick here to view the revised proposals in full
• In March 2022 we held public engagement sessions on the revised plans - click on the image at the bottom of this page to to view one of the online sessions.

Pending sales of our surplus estate at Springfield Hospital funding this development, and final Government sign-off, works are due to get underway in 2024 for delivery in 2027.

Sign up for the Tolworth Messenger 

Further to local consultations held on the development, we are now inviting residents around Tolworth Hospital and across Kingston to sign-up to the Tolworth Messenger.

Click here to sign-up

This e-newsletter will provide a minimum of two updates each year as our state-of-the-art facilities come to life - the first updates will be shared in early 2024. 

You can also indicate (via the link above) if you would like to be added to the mailing list for monthly construction 'look aheads', which will provide more detailed e-mail updates on upcoming site works, and our quarterly Trust e-bulletin, which provides wider updates from across the Trust. 

Find out more about our work to transform local mental health services

For any further questions please email us at EstateModernisation@swlstg.nhs.uk