MPs vote against New Hospital Programme motion

MPs have voted against a motion calling for acceleration of the New Hospital Programme (NHP).

(c) Enrique/Pixabay

(c) Enrique/Pixabay

The motion by the Liberal Democrats was in response to the Government's revised NHP, which will see 18 of the 40 projects pushed back from their original 2030 date, with some now not expected to begin construction until 2037.

Speaking following the vote yesterday, Liberal Democrat health and social care spokesperson, Helen Morgan, said: ‘Labour and Conservative MPs refusing to back our motion today is a slap in the face for all those patients still being treated in crumbling hospitals.

‘It is a national scandal that patients are being treated in these ramshackle buildings with sewage leaks, rat infestations and roofs at risk of collapse.

‘Liberal Democrats will not give up fighting to rebuild local health services and deliver the change that is so desperately needed.'

The vote came after the Lib Dems revealed the health service lost 608 days' worth of clinical time due to infrastructure failures on the NHS estate.

A recent poll by the party showed that one in five (19%) people said that their local hospital building infrastructure is not a safe place with a quarter of those saying that it was because there might be a rodent/insect infestation (26%).

 

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