MPs' outcry over failure to fund hospital repairs

SOMERSET MPs have expressed their disappointment after the government declined to fund urgent repairs at one of the county's main hospitals.

- 

SOMERSET MPs have expressed their disappointment after the government declined to fund urgent repairs at one of the county's main hospitals.

Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton was part of the Conservatives’ new hospitals programme, which pledged to deliver “40 new hospitals” by 2030.

‘A review carried out after the general election concluded that many of these new or rebuilt hospitals were “behind schedule, unfunded and therefore undeliverable” - forcing many of the projects to be postponed.

Health secretary Wes Streeting MP announced in January that Musgrove's outstanding upgrades would now be pushed back until 2033 - with the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust confirming in early-March that its planned second multi-storey car park was also indefinitely on hold.

‘An opposition debate on the future of England’s hospitals was held in the House of Commons on Wednesday, April 23, with Lib Dem health and social care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP leading the charge against both the current and previous governments.

Ms Morgan - who represents the North Shropshire constituency - said: “There were not 40 new hospitals - they were not all hospitals and there were not 40 of them.

“The issue here is that the start dates for work on many hospitals that need urgent rebuilding have been pushed back into the 2030s, long beyond the life of this parliament.

“The people who are served by those hospitals were promised new facilities and have not had them. That is devastating for those communities.