The decision to rebuild a crumbling Norfolk hospital upon its current site "lacks scrutiny," a councillor has claimed.
But another has said they were "left with no choice" but to make the best of a bad situation amid a lack of funding and short time scale.
The dilapidated Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn has been added to the government's new hospitals programme in May after years of desperate pleas for it to be replaced.
Currently it is still operating 10 years after its expected working life.
The new facility is to be built on what is currently the site's main car park, which will be replaced by a new multi-storey car park to make way for the new hospital.
While in "absolute support" of the rebuild, Councillor Alun 'Tom' Ryves has argued other options were not considered properly and that a "proper debate" about the future hospital is needed.
"Obviously everyone supports the QEH in its endless struggle to get funding for its rebuild.
"But what concerns me is there is a lack of scrutiny and we should be thinking about what is best for west Norfolk by exploring the possibility of a new site.
"We have an opportunity to create the best hospital for the region but no one is grabbing that."
READ MORE: New QEH 'will be built' by 2030
At a recent planning meeting, Mr Ryves abstained from a vote granting planning approval to the multistorey car park due to his views, believing rebuilding on the existing site is a "more complex" option rather than looking at "viable but as of yet uncosted" alternatives.
Paul Brooks MBE, director of estates and facilities for the QEH Trust, said choosing to rebuild on the existing site is the "only solution" for delivering a modern and state-of-the-art facility by 2030, the end-of-life deadline for the current hospital.
He said the trust had conducted a Strategic Outline Case (SOC) which was fully supported by stakeholders and that choosing the existing brownfield site would “maximise” the multi-million-pound investment in the new Endoscopy Unit.
He added: “We believe we are delivering the very best option for the people of King’s Lynn and the communities we serve.”
However, Mr Ryves has said he has repeatedly asked for a cost-benefit analysis between the options available that he would consider "essential for a decision of this magnitude" but he believes this wasn't done.
Hugh Symington, whose family owns land close to the Hardwick roundabout, has said his proposal for the hospital to be built there had not been considered despite its strong case.
The location would provide the hospital with easy access to the A47 and other major roads and could be built along with the infrastructure developments needed for the West Winch housing projects.
But he worries the current site, which is only accessible off the A149 - a road that already struggles with chronic congestion – will face problems with ambulances sat in traffic.
"This is not about sour grapes, it is about the process undergoing proper scrutiny," he said.
"It is paramount the rebuild takes place, regardless of where.
"But as we had no contact in regards to how much the land would cost, it suggests the proposal was not even considered.
“It seems like there is no holistic thinking and that the inevitable problems with the new build will be pushed down the road for someone else to sort out.”
With more than 3,000 props preventing the roof from collapsing, the £862m rebuild of the QEH is needed swiftly.
According to Jo Rust, West Norfolk Council cabinet member for People and Communities, the chance to consider other site options was not a luxury available.
This is due to more time needed for the planning process at a new site.
“We had to make the best of a bad situation,” she said.
“In the ideal world, we would have been able to choose from different scenarios.
"But building a brand new hospital on a new site would take up to 11 years, time we don't have.
“The government has let us down by not having a strategy to update the NHS estate over the past decade and a lack of will to properly fund it.
"This should have been planned years ago.
"It has left us with a short space of time [2030] before the current site went dark. Because of this failure, there is no Plan B.
“Decisions on the NHS should be taken away from politicians – it has been used as a political football for too long.”
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