Beverley and Holderness MP, Graham Stuart, has written to the Chairman of the East Riding of Yorkshire PCT, Karen Knapton, to ask for a meeting to discuss the funding for the new Beverley Community Hospital.
Graham had been concerned at recent media reports that funding for new hospital building and refurbishment work had been withheld by the Treasury because of the current recession. Since 2006, when £750 million was set aside by the Department of Health for community hospital building projects, just £250 million has been spent on 28 schemes across the country, including Beverley.
Last month The Times newspaper published a letter sent by Peter Spilsbury, of NHS West Midlands, to Jo Chambers, head of Shropshire County PCT, saying “the Department of Health is advising SHAs to take forward schemes through alternative funding routes to the community hospitals programme”. It states that Andy Stubbing, a senior official at the Department of Health, has said that “the Treasury is unlikely to agree further releases of funding for this programme”.
Ms Knapton wrote to Graham earlier this month. She said: “I know there has been media coverage recently concerning funding for hospital building and refurbishment being withheld but we have had reassurance from the SHA that this does not apply to pre-approved community hospital projects as long as the funding is spent by March 2011.”
Graham has since replied to her saying: “I am disturbed to hear that the funding for the Beverley project has to be spent by March 2011. What reassurances can you give me that potential delays to the project, such as an unexpected problem with the planning application, will not lead to the removal of this funding?”
He said: “Any number of things could delay the start of the building work, not least a problem with the planning application. The March 2011 deadline seems to be remarkably tight given the scale of the project and I want to ensure that the PCT is not being too complacent.”
