The money will be used to find a new site for the £2bn hospital which comes within wave 3 of the NHP, with construction not expected to begin until 2037.

A Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust spoke person says: ‘We are pleased to have been awarded £500k from the New Hospital Programme, which is the amount we requested, to enable us to progress to the next stage to carry out land searches which is the next step to potentially purchase land for a much needed new hospital.

‘It's no secret we were disappointed by the extension to 2037 for the start on building a new hospital for local people, but this money is a positive announcement which allows us to start to move forward.'

The trust was awarded a share of a £4.4m grant in June for repairs and refurbishments which local Liberal Democrat MP Clive Jones described as ‘very welcome' but ‘not enough'.