As Robotic Reeves “stops” the construction of the hospital, St Helier collapses

Our Sutton reporter BELLE MONT on the latest devastating failure of NHS provision in this part of London

25 years of uncertainty and broken promises: St Helier Hospital has been badly served by all three major political parties

Less than a month after being elected with a historically large majority, recriminations are beginning to be heard around Keir Starmer’s – “Kid Starver’s” – Labor Government.

After suspending the Labor whip from seven MPs who backed a parliamentary amendment calling for an end to the two-child benefit cap, Robotic Chancellor Rachel Reeves yesterday announced a cut to the winter fuel allowance for pensioners.

In Sutton, the Labor government’s announcement of more cuts and more austerity has put the Conservatives and Lib Dems at each other’s throats as they tussle over the fate of St Helier Hospital, a crumbling pile of a NHS facilities where staff. they work as well as they can despite the decrepit condition of the buildings.

St Helier Hospital is an outstanding example of how the NHS is being mismanaged by the Tories, LibDems and Labor has left us all less served than we should be.

There have been plans, of one kind or another, for a new St Helier for a quarter of a century, none of which have ever been delivered. St Helier is one of “40 new hospitals” promised by Boris Johnson’s Conservative government in 2019, which Reeves announced yesterday will now be “on hold” because there was never any money to pay for it .

There is a hole in my budget: Rachel Reeves spoke in the Commons yesterday

It now looks unlikely that any of the schemes, including St Helier, will be approved and funded before 2027.

The NHS Confederation, which represents the healthcare system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, warned: “In hospitals and other services where there are collapsing roofs, broken equipment and outdated facilities, with every day that goes by without a repair on longer term, more funding should be used to provide short-term solutions that allow for the continued delivery of patient care.

“For the government to be able to deliver on its key commitment to reduce waiting lists and ensure the NHS is fit for the future, the gap to delivering the new hospital program must be as short as possible and NHS leaders need clarity on terms.”

I’m still waiting: Dr Ruth Charlton has seen a number of broken promises about St Helier

The main buildings in St Helier predate the NHS. In May this year, Dr Ruth Charlton, then Chief Medical Officer of Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, wrote an article for Grauniad in which she said: “We, our patients and our staff, cannot afford to wait any longer. The longer these delays are, the more money it costs us – and the more difficult it is to keep our patients safe…

“The standards of health care are getting higher and higher, while our hospitals slide into further disrepair. When our elevators break down, we can’t even get the parts to fix them because they’re no longer made.” Wards must be closed when elevators cannot transport patients to or from them.

“We are providing safe care – but it is not easy in such a degraded and unpleasant environment and I fear we will not be able to provide the level of care we would – or should – be able to provide for much longer.”

In May, under the Conservative Sunak government, there was still no deal for the promised new hospital in Sutton. “As far as I am concerned, there is no other option,” Dr Charlton wrote at the time. “We need to progress our plans to build our new hospital and make improvements to our existing sites. Give us permission now.”

There appears to be little prospect of this desired funding being available now.

shredding: at St Helier, they can’t even find spare parts for the 1930s hospital lifts

Elliot Colburn, elected Conservative MP in 2019, has served in Parliament for the entire period his various governments have failed to green light their version of the new hospital for Sutton (the Conservatives want a new build of a smaller hospital; others favor re-use and rebuilding on the St Helier site).

Last night he issued a message on social media claiming St Helier had been “betrayed by the LibDems and Labour”. Colburn has since deleted the message. Perhaps even he felt it was a little too hypocritical, even for a conservative.

Colburn lost his seat in Carshalton and Wallington in the general election to Liberal Democrat Bobby Dean. In his message yesterday, Colburn blamed the LibDems for letting Labor “get away” and called them “disgraceful”.

Colburn wrote: “Local NHS staff have put so much work into this plan, getting to the point where they could apply for planning permission and build.

“Today Labor and the LibDems have sent them back to Square One.”

Dean responded to Reeves’ announcement of a review of all hospital schemes by promising to “fight for the investment we desperately need”, although realistically he could be expected to achieve little given Labour’s huge majority.

Nice message: LibDem MPs in Sutton issued similar statements on social media

Dean called the promised new hospital “a conservative lie.”

His fellow LibDem rookie, MP for Sutton and Cheam, Luke Taylor, took a similar stance.

“Our Tory MPs were all writing checks for our future NHS provision that had no chance of being cashed,” Taylor tweeted.

“This is a total betrayal of the Tories. We cannot forget or forgive their failure.”

Dean said: “The Tory promise to improve St Helier and build a new hospital was not worth the paper it was written on”, noting that his predecessors as LibDem MPs in Sutton, Tom Brake and Paul Burstow, had worked in Tory- led governments on earlier versions of the Sutton hospital plans.

Taylor and Dean issued similar sweet orange-tinged statements on behalf of the pro-austerity party.

Dean says he is “determined to fight for a new building at St Helier Hospital”, including keeping the under-threatened A&E and maternity services, which have been under some sort of threat of closure for at least six years.

He also said he had a meeting with Labor Health Minister Wes Streeting where he would “ask for more details on the review and ask for a decision to be made as soon as possible”. Although one of the 72 LibDem MPs is able to “DEMAnD” something seems unlikely.

So what “the decision is made as urgently as possible“, and it’s the decision Dean doesn’t want? What will he do then? He kicks a few times and screams and screams…?

It might feel like a very long parliament.

Read more: The government is cutting £100 million from the budget for the new hospital in Sutton
Read more: 13 MPs criticize move of maternity services from St Helier
Read more: Conservatives pick NHS birthday to raise voice for St Helier
Read more: The NHS is to announce the closure of A&E and Maternity at St Helier

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