PMQs: Liberal Democrats demand new hospital construction dates be brought forward as affected patients watch on in Parliament

EMBARGO: Immediate Release

In a series of questions to the Prime Minister today, including from Leader Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrats demanded that construction dates at the delayed new hospitals be brought forward to protect patients from crumbling buildings.

Liberal Democrat MPs Clive Jones and Ian Roome, whose constituents rely on services at North Devon District Hospital and the Royal Berkshire Hospital, implored the Prime Minister to deliver on additional maintenance funding and bring forward construction dates with many of these projects pushed back by at least a decade.

Patients who rely on services at the Royal Berkshire Hospital were in the gallery to watch the exchanges with Wokingham MP Clive Jones demanding that the Prime Minister meet with them to explain to them “why he thinks it is acceptable that staff and patients dodge buckets collecting rainwater from leaking roofs for another 18 years”. 

The Prime Minister said the Government was “building as quickly as we can” and agreed for a Minister to meet with constituents to hear their concerns.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

“These communities have been devastated by the news that the hospitals they were promised now face years of delay. For these patients and staff it means there is still no end in sight to the dangerous delays to vital treatment and the buildings they use will have the potential to collapse around them for years to come.

“There is no doubt that these communities were led up the garden path by the Conservative Government, making hollow promises, but the lack of ambition from Labour is deeply disappointing too.

“The Prime Minister has embraced the false economy of dither and delay. These projects will only become more expensive, with patients suffering the consequences, the longer they are delayed. The Government must now realise this and bring the construction dates forward.”

Liberal Democrat MP for Wokingham, Clive Jones said:

“Our community is heartbroken by the Government’s decision to push the start date of the Royal Berks’ construction to 2037; patients and staff are already suffering in a building that is no longer fit for purpose and this decision will prolong that misery.

“I invited patients and volunteers from the Royal Berkshire Hospital into Parliament. They are the people who will bear the burden of these decisions, and it is right that they heard the Prime Minister’s response, no matter how disappointing it was.

“The previous Conservative Government made promises they knew they were never going to keep, but Labour are pushing this rebuild out so far there is a real danger of serious harm to both patients and staff. I will continue to make this case to the Government until they realise the damage this decision will do for people here in Wokingham.”

Liberal Democrat MP for North Devon, Ian Roome said:

“Families across North Devon were left behind by the last Government and I’m furious to see the same behaviour from this current Government. We cannot wait another 10 years for urgent funding to repair our hospital - it simply isn’t good enough. 

“I am so glad that my Party leader, Sir Ed, recognises the dire need for this funding after seeing the dire state of the building when he visited last year. Our first rate staff and patients deserve so much better. 

“This funding will be lifesaving and the predictions of what could happen if we don’t rebuild and upgrade as soon as possible are terrifying. I urge the Prime Minister to recognise this. We can’t afford to be heard only when it’s too late.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Ed Davey’s question:

When the honourable member for North Devon took me recently to the district hospital in Barnstaple, a surgeon described it as a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.

A hospital that size needs twelve operating theatres to meet demand. It has just four.

The last Conservative Government promised the hospital would be rebuilt, but it was a hollow promise.

Now North Devon is one of nine hospitals where urgent work won’t even start for another ten years.

Will the Prime Minister meet with Honourable Members whose constituents’ lives are harmed by these delays, to see if these projects can be brought forward?

Ian Roome’s question:

Last week North Devon District Hospital got the devastating news that investment would be delayed ten years, beyond 2035.

In the five years since the last Government’s empty promises, our hospital’s maintenance backlog has grown to over £40 million.

Given that £200m has reportedly been spent just on consultancy for the New Hospital Programme, what funding for extra maintenance will be available to those hospitals that now face another decade of waiting?

Clive Jones’s question:

In the gallery are patients who use the Royal Berkshire Hospital. Parts of its estate are crumbling as we speak, and it urgently needs a rebuild, but we are going to have to wait until at least 2043.

Can the Prime Minister please explain to these visitors and the House why he thinks it is acceptable that staff and patients dodge buckets collecting rainwater from leaking roofs for another 18 years and will he meet with them and explain it face to face?