West Suffolk Hospital rebuild in Bury St Edmunds raised in Parliament as PM pressed on delivery
The rebuilding of West Suffolk Hospital was raised in Parliament after the Prime Minister was pressed on its delivery.
During yesterday’s PMQs, one of Suffolk’s new MPs, and a surgeon for 40 years, Dr Peter Prinsley, asked the new Prime Minister about the rebuilding of West Suffolk Hospital, a promise made by the last Government.
The existing hospital has stood since the 1970s and has structural defects associated with RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete).
Dr Prinsley said: “As a surgeon from East Anglia, I welcome the measures the new Government is taking to fulfil its mission to fix the NHS.
“In my constituency of Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, the West Suffolk Hospital is badly affected by RAAC, just like the James Paget hospital in Norfolk where I’ve worked for nearly 30 years — does the Prime Minister agree that the RAAC hospitals must be priorities as the new Government undertakes its review of the new hospital programme?”
Question marks were hung over the project to replace the hospital, earmarked for the Hardwick Manor site, in Bury St Edmunds, after the new chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced plans to rebuild 40 hospitals by 2030 would be reviewed.
Addressing Dr Prinsley’s question, Mr Starmer criticised the last Government’s promises and stressed a review of the programme was now underway but stopped short of any promises.
He said: “We have to reset the new hospital programme and put it on a sustainable footing.
“The last Government promised 40 new hospitals, the problem is they weren’t 40, they weren’t new, and some of them weren’t even hospitals.
“Hospitals with RAAC, including West Suffolk Hospital, must be a priority so we’re reviewing the programme and the SoS will update Parliament as soon as possible.”
This mimicked a reply earlier this week to another of the county’s MPs, James Cartlidge, for South Suffolk, who wrote to Parliament asking for clearer detail on a timeline for the project.
