PMQs: Sunak fails to commit to funding the £50 million of repairs needed for Stepping Hill Hospital

The Prime Minister failed to commit to funding the more than £50 million of repairs needed for Stepping Hill Hospital when pressed on the hospital’s crumbling buildings at PMQs yesterday.

Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Daisy Cooper, asked Sunak whether he would confirm that crumbling hospitals would be made safe for patients. She raised the example of Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, where buildings are having to close due to crumbling infrastructure.

The cost of repairs needed at Stepping Hill have now reached over £50 million. The overall NHS estate repairs backlog has reached a record £11.6 billion.

In his response, the Prime Minister failed to commit to fixing all the crumbling hospitals and did not mention Stepping Hill despite it being raised with him.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to urgently fix the crumbling hospitals that pose a danger to both staff and patients.

Lib Dem Parliamentary candidates for Cheadle and Hazel Grove, Tom Morrison and Lisa Smart, are calling for a new hospital site to be constructed in order to give their communities the modern health facilities that they deserve.

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Hazel Grove, Lisa Smart said: “No patients in our area should have had to put up with being treated in a hospital where the buildings are literally falling apart around them. Yet that is exactly the situation that our communities find themselves in.

“It is utterly shameful that this Conservative government has failed to give people in the Hazel Grove constituency the health services that they deserve.

“Conservative Ministers must urgently commit to fixing the repair backlog at Stepping Hill and put forward plans for a new hospital that can serve our communities needs properly.”

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Cheadle, Tom Morrison said: “Residents in Cheadle Constituency have had to put up with a decaying hospital for too long. Our community has had to put up without the resources that it needs and it is causing real and painful suffering.

“We urgently need investment to fix Stepping Hill hospital and a new facility that can serve our communities without patients being left in fear that the very building they are meant to be getting better in could collapse at any moment. It is the very least that we all deserve.”