During the general election campaign, I warned that a Labour government would put a new QEH at risk. Despite the promises they made at the time that is precisely what happened when shortly after taking office they put in doubt the new hospitals programme. Thankfully, in response to pressure the government has now recognised we must have a new hospital.
It was between constituency visits that a letter pinged into my inbox from the Health Secretary. He said that on safety grounds QEH and other RAAC affected hospitals would now be exempt from the review of the programme the government launched in July and “will proceed at pace due to the substantive safety risks associated with these.”
Readers may be slightly weary of this saga. It took campaigning throughout the last Parliament to get to the point a year ago when the last Conservative government made QEH a priority due to the very same RAAC issues. I know QEH staff and patients were very concerned and anxious when it looked like that decision could be reversed. That’s why since the election, in Parliament, I repeatedly pressed the Health Secretary to prioritise QEH and end the damaging uncertainty.
I’m sure people are relieved that once again our concerns have been heard but it is frustrating we had to fight again for this decision given the need to replace QEH set out in the expert report for the Department of Health which sets 2030 as its end of life.
Nonetheless, the threat of cancelling the project has been lifted. Now the aim is to make swift progress with the plans QEH has developed and try and make up some of the time that has been lost. I’ll continue working with the QEH Trust and others to ensure we get the approvals and plans needed to enable works - for example for the new car park – to start so we have the new hospital by 2030 for our community.
Many people have asked me what the new hospital will be like, how many beds it will have, and more. Well, everyone has the opportunity to learn more about the plans at a number of public meetings QEH is holding around North West Norfolk in the next few week. To register just go to https://newqeh.org.uk/ where you can also read about the plans developed so far.
As I write the new QEH Community Diagnostic Centre is set to open its doors for the first time which is expected to offer 40,000 outpatient appointments a year for people needing scans to diagnose and monitor conditions, including cancer. This mean faster treatment and better patient outcomes.
The new state of the art facilities are an example of what is to come in our new main hospital.
This column first appeared in Your Local Paper on 2 October 2024
