“Yes or no, will you fully fund the plans to rebuild North Manchester General Hospital as promised?”

It is understood that all the planning that has already been completed and the millions invested in enabling works at Crumpsall will shave around 18 months off the time needed to rebuild a hospital. The hospital’s catchment area also suffers from some of the worst health outcomes in the country, with life expectancy years lower than other parts of England.

But the dilapidated Victorian-era buildings have yet to get the go-ahead after more than five years of government promises. On Friday, the Manchester Evening News sat down with Health Minister Andrew Gwynne and asked him if North Manchester General Hospital would approve its full transformation plan so that the rebuild could start in 2025, as had been planned for some time.

“Everything is there but the cash”

Mr Gwynne’s visit to Manchester on Friday came ahead of the launch of a government initiative to ask the public about how NHS services should change as the Labor leadership creates a 10-year plan to transform health and social care across the UK. Investment for battered hospitals such as North Manchester General Stepping Hill should be part of that consultation, says MP.

“There will be real change,” Gwynne said. “We recognize in the ten-year plan that there will be a capital expenditure on the hospital building. And the hospital program that we are reviewing at the moment, we are committed to complying with.

“But what is missing is funding. The last government made promises they knew they couldn’t keep, and what has surprised us as ministers who came into the Department of Health and Social Care is that there is this hospital rebuilding program that was not worth the paper where was written

“Because the paper that we ultimately need, the cash, was not there. So what we are doing is looking at how we can deliver, across the NHS plan, the rebuilding of the hospital that needs to take place.

“And of course the condition will be a key part of that. So I’m very aware of the problems in North Manchester, I’m very aware as a former Member of Parliament for Stockport of the problems in Stepping Hill. The department is aware of these problems.

“What we need to do is to ensure that those plans that we want to be made and carried out are fully funded, and that is the work that is being carried out at the moment. We will ensure that there is a hospital building program in the 10-year plan for the NHS.

“But we’ll make sure there’s also the hard money to pay for it, which the last Tory government scandalously didn’t put in place.”

‘Yes or no –

However, when asked “yes or no” about whether North Manchester General Hospital will be fully funded, according to the multi-billion dollar plans that have been in the works for a long time, the minister refused to confirm.

“Well, there’s no point in doing a review and then circumnavigating that process,” he said. “These hospitals are well known to the department and the entire hospital reconstruction program is currently under review.

“We are looking at how we can bring these hospitals forward to rebuild them in time for the NHS plan period and how we can get investment into those hospitals that desperately need it – hospitals that are falling apart in some cases. cases, and (how) we can ensure that those people who need these hospitals have buildings fit for their purpose.

“We will do that in the course of the review and we will make sure that when we make promises there is money to be able to deliver on those promises. I think it’s a shame that the last government made promises that they knew they didn’t have the money to fund.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting apologized for another delay in rebuilding North Manchester General in September and pledged to push ahead. These overtures were repeated in the House of Commons last week.

But just before that, the government activated funding to repair another decrepit hospital in Greater Manchester – Stepping Hill.

The government sparked fury by saying it “cannot commit” to funding repairs to Stepping Hill. Hospital bosses said the bill had reached £130m and ministers had promised investment to fix the decaying estate in previous months.

“Stepping Hill is in a terrible state,” admits the Health Minister

In just four months this year, Stockport Hospital has seen one of its main outpatient buildings condemned and demolished, followed by two “unexpected and unrelated” roof collapses in its radiology department and intensive care unit criticism These incidents have caused a severe drop in capacity for outpatient consultations and the hospital’s intensive care department to be out of service for days.

However, in a letter sent this week, Minister of State for Health Karin Smyth said funding for the hospital was not available “at this stage” due to the state of public finances. which Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said is £22 billion. black hole

The shocking images emerged in June just before Labor won a dramatic general election result. They showed the severity of the problem: a flooded corridor and an intensive care unit in disarray after a roof collapsed.

The collapses occurred inside the radiology department and intensive care unit. Critically ill patients are receiving intensive, high-dependency treatment in the wards, while dozens have had their procedures and scheduled appointments cancelled. At first, the evacuated patients were treated in operating rooms, but some were taken to a nearby hospital.

However, just months after the election, Ms Smyth’s letter to the area’s MPs said the government should “watch for any flexibility or emerging opportunities during the year” to find funding for the site and that will arrange a visit to the hospital.

The letter was received with disgust. Stepping Hill, which is supposed to specialize in stroke care, along with emergency and high-risk surgery for millions of people across the region, has been calling for funding for years. The MEN understands that hospital bosses pitched Stepping Hill as one of the “40 new hospitals” promised by then prime minister Boris Johnson in 2019, but it was rejected.

But Mr Gwynne, a former MP for Stockport before taking his seat in Gorton and Denton, told the MEN that the money needed to fund the new hospitals promised by the Tory leadership would not prevent Stepping Hill from receiving much-needed money.

“That is not the case (that Stepping Hill will not be funded because the government has to pay for the new hospitals),” Gwynne said. “We are aware that, obviously, there are promises that have been made regarding the reconstruction program of the hospital.

“But there are capital challenges in a number of hospitals in England, not just here in Greater Manchester, where investment needs to be made and that is part of what will be in the 10-year plan and part of that is why we have to have- ho. conversation because it’s about priorities: what should the priorities be?

“A program of rebuilding hospitals and ensuring that there is capital investment in the NHS estate must be part of that plan for the next decade. Obviously we have the challenge of hospitals that have not been spent not a penny for a decade or more which are now in the process of falling as you say: Stepping Hill is in a terrible state.The department is aware of this.

“It is a priority that we look at how we support these hospitals, so that people in these areas, in this case Stepping Hill or North Manchester, have the right to have the best hospital facilities that we can offer them in the NHS.”

Labor launches ‘conversation about our NHS plan’

In today’s (Monday, October 21) announcement, Mr Gwynne said: “On Monday, the Prime Minister and Health Secretary will open a big conversation across the country about our 10-year plan for the NHS. It’s about making sure we build that NHS fit for the future, with the people who use the NHS and the people who work for the NHS at the heart of everything we do.

“There will be many opportunities for engagement across the country to incorporate the best ideas people have about how we reshape health and care for the 21st century. Monday will be the start of this process, we will launch the consultation tool in line, which will be change.nhs.uk.

“It’s about ensuring that everyone who has an idea, who wants to have an opinion on future changes, has the opportunity to do so.

“Digital exclusion is something we are rightly concerned about. There will be many opportunities for people who cannot access the online tool to contribute. There will be face-to-face events throughout the country. We are planning over 100 events in England.

“But there will also be opportunities to get involved by submitting your thoughts in writing. So this will be a genuinely constructive and inclusive exercise to incorporate all the ideas people have about the changes they want to see in this decade of national renewal and a decade of improving our NHS and building a health and care system fit for the future.”