Fresh funding doubts over St Helier Hospital

Sutton Liberal Democrats have called on the Government to halt its plan to cut A&E and maternity services at St Helier Hospital, following reports of fresh funding doubts over overdue repairs and the so-called new hospital programme.

Just over £17m is needed to clear St Helier Hospital’s maintenance backlog and repair the building, with the NHS estates review revealing the cost of the repairs backlog nationally at an astonishing £10.2 billion.

Meanwhile, in last week’s Autumn Statement, the Department of Health’s capital investment programme is facing a £700 million cut - putting the Sutton borough plan that includes St Helier Hospital in doubt.

It comes alongside news that the NHS waiting list has hit 7 million people, with 157,784 stuck on wait lists in South West London alone.

At this week’s full council meeting, Sutton Liberal Democrats called on the Government to halt its plans to downgrade St Helier Hospital and instead look again at how to keep acute services at the site and provide the urgent investment it needs. 

Councillor Bobby Dean, running to be Lib Dem MP for Carshalton & Wallington, said:

“St Helier Hospital desperately needs investment, but all this Government is offering is a massive downgrade.

“The repairs programme is well overdue and it’s clear that the so-called new hospital programme is set to be yet another broken promise by Boris Johnson.

“With the Government clearly stalling on investment, the time has come to go back to the drawing board. We need a credible plan that secures the future of St Helier Hospital and ensures vital acute services remain at the site.”

Councillor Ruth Dombey, Leader of Sutton Council, added: 

“It seems remarkable that after all these years, after the petitions and protests and marches, after the lobbying and campaigning that have been going on for well over twenty-five years, here we are at the end of 2022 still standing up to defend and protect St Helier hospital.

“If the money promised back in 2010 had been invested in the hospital, if the promise to invest £219 million had been maintained, then we wouldn’t be where we are today.

“We are proud of our hospital, the people working there and the care they are delivering. They deserve decent, modern health facilities and so do we.”