Fears Shotley Bridge Hospital won't be built as Labour blame Tories

Plans for a new Shotley Bridge Hospital are in doubt after the government said all projects within the New Hospitals Programme were under review because of funding constraints. 

The County Durham hospital was included in the former Conservative government’s scheme despite plans already being drawn up. 

MP for Blaydon and Consett Liz Twist said Labour’s decision is due to the lack of funding left by the Tories. 

“Like all local people, I’m frustrated with the continued delay, the new hospital to replace the Shotley Bridge Hospital is long overdue,” she said. 

Ms Twist said she has already met with Health Secretary Wes Streeting to make the case for building the Consett facility. 

The Labour MP added: “Consett desperately needs a new hospital, but we also need honesty over how a new hospital will be funded and when we can expect it to be completed.

“But the Tories have left a black hole in our finances and cynically committed to this new hospital without committing anywhere close to the funding required to deliver it.”

A 16-bed in-patient rehabilitation ward and urgent treatment centre were proposed for the site, which was scheduled to replace the current facility in Shotley Bridge.

Labour pledged to build the hospital in June but has now seemingly backtracked on its promise following Mr Streeting’s announcement.

The Health Secretary said the Government wanted to see the New Hospitals Programme completed but it is “undeliverable, unaffordable, and estimated costs had risen by billions”. 

Planning permission for the new hospital was received in March 2023 but work has not started and Liberal Democrat councillor Dominic Haney fears it never will. 

Councillor Dominic Haney at the existing Shotley Bridge Hospital site (Image: The Northern Echo) The member for Consett South, where the hospital is due to be built, said: “The last Conservative government left Shotley Bridge Hospital in a mess. Boris Johnson and our then Conservative MP Richard Holden tried to claim all the glory for the hospital by bundling it into their New Hospitals Programme, despite the project being well underway. All this did was hold the project up, just so the Conservatives could try and claim the credit.

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“That act of political self-indulgence started hammering the nails into the hospital’s coffin. It’s now the new Labour government who may slam the final nail and send the hospital under. I really do fear that it may never be built.”

Ms Twist vowed to continue campaigning for the new hospital while the review takes place. 

“I am committed to working with the Labour Government to put right the wrongs of the previous Conservative regime, and I am committed to the new hospital project in Consett,” she added. 

A Conservative spokesman said: “Labour has been planning to delay and potentially cancel new hospitals since January 2023.
 
“Now, despite Labour candidates cynically promising during the election campaign that they could be trusted to deliver them, Wes Streeting has slipped out a letter stating that he may cancel 24 new hospitals.
 
“This is his decision, no one else’s."