Hospital rebuild delayed

HENLEY MP Freddie van Mierlo has criticised the delay to the rebuilding of the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, announced on Monday that work to relocate and rebuild the Reading hospital would not begin until 2037 at the earliest.

This follows a review of the previous Conservative government’s new hospitals programme, which promised 40 new hospitals by 2030 but was labelled “uncosted and undeliverable” by Labour.

Mr van Mierlo said he was “bitterly disappointed” by the decision to delay construction, which would mean the hospital wouldn’t be completed until the early 2040s.

He said: “This is a huge disappointment for everyone in Henley and the wider area that use the Royal Berks for healthcare.

“The Conservatives badly let down the constituency and patients by failing to put budget against their announcements for a new hospital but now we’ve also been let down by Labour who have failed to recognise the importance of the hospital.”

The Government has announced that the new hospitals would be delivered in “waves” of five-year periods, with the Royal Berks on the final wave, meaning construction would begin between 2037 and 2039. The NHS had hoped to begin work on the £1.6bn project in 2031.

Mr van Mierlo said that delaying investment in a new hospital will create a “false economy”. He said: “We will see more and more money poured into trying to keep hospitals that long ago should have been replaced going.

“The backlog of repairs is huge at the Royal Berks and to spend more and more money maintaining a decaying hospital is a false economy. What we need is a modern hospital fit for 21st century care.”

The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, has estimated that its backlog of repairs currently sits at £102.5 million, which it predicts will increase to £400 million over the next 10 years.

Mr van Mierlo said: “One of the small examples of how the state of the hospital is impacting the delivery of care is that some of the lifts don’t work because they can’t get the parts to fix them because they don’t exist anymore.

“When transporting patients, they have to travel further around the hospital. I have been told that at any given time, a third of lifts at the facilities are out of action.

“In August I was told that 50 operations had been cancelled in the preceding 18 months due to estate or infrastructure issues including power cuts, water supply issues, broken lifts, and issues with temperature controls.”

A spokesman for the trust said: “We are extremely disappointed with the announcement that our programme, not for the first time, has been delayed.

“While we are pleased that the government has recognised the case for a whole new hospital, the announcement sees us delayed by at least another six years and there will be little prospect of a new hospital before 2040. Our staff, patients and the citizens of Berkshire West and South Oxfordshire deserve better.”