Epsom Hospital could have land sold-off to developers, in a move heavily criticised by campaigners who described it as “worse than selling the family silver”.

In a board agreement on Friday, April 13, it was decided that some of the land at Epsom was ‘surplus to requirements’.

“With a population which is anticipated to grow significantly over the next decade and this winter's crisis in the NHS our local acute hospitals certainly do not appear to have an excess of capacity,” said Keep Our St Helier Hospital (KOSHH) who also campaign about Epsom Hospital.

A few of the designated buildings are already empty and could potentially help raise the £100 million of capital needed for improvements.

Some of this is made of money the Epsom & St Helier NHS Trust already has, and an extra £24 million is new money from the government.

Daniel Elkeles, Chief Executive of Epsom and St Helier Hospitals Trust, said: “We have had decades of underinvestment in our buildings and we have one of the largest infrastructure backlogs in the NHS.

“We have still got steam power, the drains don’t work, the windows don’t open, the roof leaks; we’ve got two big initiatives underway to sort it out. ”

The work planned for Epsom Hospital includes:

• £2 million on replacing windows

• New outpatient facility in Woodcote Wing

• A new power plant in the basement to get rid of the old boilers

• £2 million on the Langley Wing for a new ward

• Building a link corridor between Langley Wing and Wells Wing

• Installing energy-efficient LED lighting

• A new car park

Mr Elkeles said he’s always been transparent he can’t promise to keep all services at Epsom and St Helier open past 2020, and champions the development of a new £400 million facility.

Dave Ash, a KOSHH campaigner said: “The move to sell off all this land is actually part of the plan to move to private health insurance so I think this this needs to be fought and it needs to be fought hard because lives are at risk.”

Mr Elkeles added: “I can’t conceive how you would link this to privatisation of the NHS. This is about raising money for hospitals, that’s not privatisation.”

One of the designated ‘surplus’ buildings is York House, another is an accommodation block which has been condemned as unfit for purpose (“a concrete pebbled-dashed monstrosity” said Mr Elkeles).

Also marked surplus is an old ward, the boiler room which will be redundant with a new basement generator, and a residential block which is a third occupied - allegedly because it’s so unpleasant.

According to Mr Elkeles, the sales will ‘probably’ go ahead around March 2019, “which is good as some of the buildings still have people living in them and we’ll need to relocate them”.

Local landlords are planned to provide alternative ‘university-style’ accommodation for hospital workers. “Everyone will still be able to walk to work,” he said.

KOSHH are holding a public meeting on Thursday, April 19 at 8pm at The Thomas Wall Centre in Sutton.