Urgent action demanded over 30°C wards in Musgrove Park

Gideon Amos, MP for Taunton and Wellington, has called on the new Health Secretary, James Murray, to honour his predecessor’s promise of a meeting to discuss bringing forward the new maternity and paediatric unit at Musgrove Park Hospital. 

Before his dramatic exit from the Government, Wes Streeting acknowledged the “unacceptable situation” for patients and staff at Musgrove in an interview with BBC Somerset and said: “We will do our best to bring forward the schemes”.

In a Commons debate on the Government’s Health Bill on Monday, Gideon raised a constituent’s recent experience at the hospital.

He said: “Jeff, told me of their grandson Ryan, who was admitted to the ward a couple of weeks ago.

“The lack of air conditioning meant that temperatures there exceeded 30C over the past week.

“No wonder medical staff have fainted in the heat while looking after mothers and children who are baking in single-storey flat-roof buildings, buildings that were put up for the United States army as a temporary measure during the Second World War and never replaced.

“It is therefore unsurprising that the previous Secretary of State … when challenged on BBC Somerset, promised that he would speed up the Musgrove Park Hospital project if he could.

“I hope the new Secretary of State will honour his predecessor’s promise to meet me to discuss that.”

Speaking after the debate Gideon said: “I’ve written to the new Health Secretary to follow up my speech calling for a meeting – he needs to listen to the pleas of patients and staff and act with the urgency the position at Musgrove Park Hospital demands.

“For too long Somerset was ignored under the previous Conservative Government which failed to deliver on its promises - Keir Starmer’s Labour Government must not do the same thing.”