St Helier safe under Conservatives
St Helier is the number one local issue raised on the doorstep by local residents. I’m pleased that Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health has issued the following statement. If elected, I want to ensure that the hospital remains safe but go further. The Hospital Trust needs breathing space to get its finances in order and to rebuild the morale of staff that must be at the end of their tether with the use of the hospital as a political football.
Dear Resident,
St Helier Hospital is Safe
You may have received correspondence from the Liberal Democrats making alarming claims about the future of St Helier Hospital. As a Surrey resident and MP, I know full well how important our local NHS services are. I therefore wanted to reiterate personally that any suggestion St Helier Hospital is set to close is completely unfounded.
In fact the Trust recently announced plans for a major investment in the services at the St Helier site over the next five years. Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust has set out a programme to invest significantly in modernising its estates, improving its facilities and updating IT systems and equipment.
These plans have been completed and were considered by the Trust Board at its meeting on 27th March. The 2015-20 strategy makes clear that both Epsom and St Helier Hospitals will continue to provide consultant-led, 24/7 A&E, maternity and in-patient paediatric services. In addition, St Helier will provide specialist and emergency care, such as acute surgery, for the sickest patients. This means there will be significant investment in the hospital site over the next five years.
A future Conservative government will ensure these improvements are delivered so that local people can continue to enjoy an improvement in services. While Labour and the Lib Dems seeks to scaremonger and irresponsibly ‘weaponise’ the NHS for votes, we are offering a positive, secure future for our health service. Over the last 5 years we have increased the NHS budget by over £7 billion in real terms, funding 9,500 extra doctors and 7,000 extra nurses. We have also guaranteed to fund the additional £8 billion that the NHS says it needs over the next 5 years so that you and your family will get the care you need.
Yours faithfully,
Jeremy Hunt
Secretary of State for Health