1996: Carillion, formerly Tarmac won the contract to build the replacement for Princess Margaret Hospital under the Government's Private Finance Initiative Scheme.
October, 1999: Building work begins on the new hospital.
January, 2001: Large pre-cast concrete blocks are fitted into place to form the walls of the new hospital building.
October 17, 2001: Work begins on the 60-bed intermediate care unit designed to ease the pressure on the main acute hospital.
November 16, 2001: Work begins on the 46-bed nurses' accommodation block, Downsview House, on the Commonhead site.
November 5, 2002: Great Western Hospital building complete
December 3, 2002: The official transfer of A&E departments from Princess Margaret Hospital to the Great Western .
January 2003: Barely a month after the new hospital opened, a letter was written by the trust warning GPs against referring patients because wards were full.
March 31, 2003: The Evening Advertiser reveals that Herbert Edwards spent 144 on a hospital trolley because of pressure on bed spaces.
October 2003: conversion of 36-bed ward should be complete.
Autumn 2003: 27 bed temporary ward should be up and running, if planning permission granted.
Spring 2005: The £27 Diagnostic Treatment Centre should take its first patients.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article