Redevelopment of hospital supported
AN MP has repeated his backing for major plans to develop a hospital and health campus in Runcorn during a visit to Halton General.
Mike Amesbury, spoke to medical professionals and toured the existing hospital, as he thanked NHS staff for their ‘hard work and dedication’.
Plans for a multi-million pound redevelopment of the hospital were scuppered earlier this year after a bid for Government funding was rejected.
A redrafted proposal is now being considered with hopes pinned on an announcement in the Autumn Statement.
Mr Amesbury and his Halton Labour colleague Derek Twigg MP have backed the plans, but said no medical services should be lost, instead calling for more services to be brought to the area.
He said: “I reaffirmed my support for the bid for a new health and wellbeing hospital campus locally and have written to the Health Secretary outlining the benefits and the reasons why it was such a disappointment that a previous version of the bid was turned down.
“I also chatted about the challenges that the fantastic and committed staff are having to deal with – particularly around the availability of appropriate social care to enable patients to leave hospital.
“It is concerning that the time ● periods where there have traditionally been particular pressures on services are getting longer and more frequent – the Government must respond to this by funding both the NHS and local government effectively and fairly.”
He added: “It was clear that staff are doing all they can logistically to respond to these pressures with front-line staff developing some brilliant approaches and partnership working to manage these demands as effectively as they can.
“Ultimately however, the longterm solution to this lies in the hands of the Government.”
He thanked staff and particularly a matron for showing him round.