Musgrove improvements raised in Parliament

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey and local MP Gideon Amos both called for urgent funding to improve Taunton’s Musgrove Park Hospital in Parliament on Wednesday.

The Health Secretary announced in January that construction on a new maternity and paediatric unit at the hospital will not start until “2030 to 2035”.

The Lib Dems put forward a motion to reverse the Government’s delays to its New Hospitals Programme but Labour and Conservative MPs failed to vote for the motion, thus blocking it. 

Sir Ed told the Commons: “I have previously raised with the Prime Minister the issue of North Devon District Hospital.

“The previous Government promised to rebuild it, as they did hospitals across the south-west, in places such as Torbay and Musgrove Park.

“Unfortunately, they broke that promise, leaving appalling conditions like sewage leaks and patients being treated in corridors.

“Will the Prime Minister reconsider his decision to delay further the construction of new hospitals, and ask his MPs to vote for our motion today for new hospitals?”

Sir Keir Starmer replied: “The previous programme, introduced by the Conservative Party, was undeliverable and unaffordable, as I think the Right Hon. Gentleman knows and accepts.

“We have put the New Hospitals Programme on a sustainable footing with a timeline that can be met.

“We are not prepared to trade on false promises, as the Conservatives did—and obviously we have also put record investment into the NHS.”

Later in the debate, Mr Amos said: “In Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, staff are fainting in temperatures of 30°C in temporary buildings where there is no cooling machinery, while mums are trying to give birth in the same ward. 

"That is completely unacceptable.

“We need interim funding if the hospital is to survive until the promised funding is meant to arrive.”