The announcement that North Tees NHS Foundation Trust’s new hospital bid was rejected by Health Secretary Steve Barclay has led Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham to blast the Conservative Government for presiding over a decade of failure to tackle health inequalities in Stockton on Tees.
The issues surrounding the North Tees estate are well known with health bosses having to spend millions of pounds just to carry out basic maintenance work. Alex has been campaigning to secure a new facility since 2010 – ever since the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition cancelled plans for a new hospital.
The rejection of the North Tees bid follows an announcement by the Health Secretary Steve Barclay that the building of forty new hospitals has been delayed until after 2030.
In the 2019 General Election then Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to build forty new hospitals within a decade.
Alex said:
“Despite numerous visits for photo-ops from Ministers – and even the Prime Minister – to North Tees, and my continued efforts over thirteen years to raise the issue of North Tees’ crumbling estate and its impact on local health inequalities, the Conservative Government has yet again failed to deliver a much needed hospital for Stockton on Tees.
“Clearly the Conservatives Party’s election pledge of forty new hospitals wasn’t worth the paper it was written on and even by re-defining “new hospital” to mean new wings and paint jobs hasn’t helped them deliver their promise.
“I very much welcome a Diagnostic Centre for Stockton on Tees and I’m sure it will support the NHS to promote good health in our area – but it is a centre, not a hospital despite what some local Tories would have people believe.
“Our local NHS staff do a tremendous job to support the people of Stockton on Tees get better and tackle deep-rooted health inequalities that blight our communities. They are being failed by this Conservative Government.”
