Brake and Burstow: Progress towards new General Hospital for Sutton Borough 'encouraging'

10.12.38pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 28th May 2007

Tom Brake, MP for Carshalton and Wallington and Paul Burstow, MP for Sutton and Cheam have welcomed news from the Better Healthcare Closer to Home team that work is underway on a detailed analysis of two possible sites for the construction of a new General Hospital for the borough.

In a briefing from the Better Healthcare Closer to Home Team, Tom Brake MP for Carshalton and Wallington and Paul Burstow MP for Sutton and Cheam, have learnt that the Team will highlight two options in their report to London NHS due in June; a partial new-build/major renovation of St Helier Hospital or a new hospital at Sutton.

Tom Brake commented;

"St Helier is back in the running again. However, the option of building a new hospital from scratch on the metropolitan open land has been kicked into touch. This is because the covenants on the land are so restrictive they would require an act of Parliament to set them aside.

"So, if the St Helier site is chosen for the General hospital, sections of the existing hospital that are not fit for purpose will have to be knocked down and re-built. Other parts will simply be renovated but to a standard that would last at least 25 years."

He added, "In my opinion, St Helier remains the best option for the General Hospital. St Helier is the area with the greatest health and employment needs and the easiest to access by public transport. But Wallington should not be forgotten. It must have its Local Care Hospital and therefore I welcome moves to re-build Shotfield Health Centre in a manner flexible enough to allow a Local Care Hospital to be developed there."

After the briefing from the Better Healthcare Team, Mr Burstow took the opportunity to renew his call for a major new hospital at St Helier, but also underlined his commitment to seeing the Sutton Hospital site used for local and out of hours care for residents in the South of the Borough

Paul Burstow MP said:

"It is encouraging to see progress being made after so many years of paralysis in the local NHS."

"Local people have already had to wait too long for these decisions to be made."

"Since this process began in the 1990's, I have maintained that St Helier is the best site for any major new Hospital - I am glad that this option is once again being given the consideration it deserves."

"But I am equally determined to see a network of Local Care Centres which meets the needs of all of the borough's residents - without a facility at Sutton, residents in the south of the borough will be short changed.