Sutton Conservatives are celebrating the approval of a £500 million investment in a new hospital in Sutton and upgrades to current hospitals in our area.
Under the new plans, a new state-of-the-art acute care hospital will be built in Sutton, with Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals maintaining district care services with upgraded facilities.
The plans are a result of a promised £500 million investment by the Conservative government to improve local healthcare.
Elliot Colburn MP commented: “This really is a momentous day for our area. These plans are incredible news for local patients who will benefit from a new hospital in Sutton, as well as upgraded facilities in St Helier.
“Staff at St Helier have gone above and beyond the call of duty during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are continuing to pull-off heroic feats despite working in such limiting and outdated conditions. As highlighted by local healthcare leaders during the consultation process, the pandemic has demonstrated exactly why we need a new hospital and upgrade current facilities.
“As a former local NHS worker, I know how important St Helier is to our area and protecting it was my number one pledge during the general election last year.
“I am proud to have worked with local healthcare leaders, residents, community groups, councillors, Parliamentary colleagues and the government to ensure we deliver on this promise of investment.”
Over recent years, Elliot Colburn MP and Paul Scully MP have been banging the drum for St Helier and other local healthcare facilities in Parliament and locally. They have invited government ministers to St Helier on several occasions, met with government ministers to lobby for investment, raised St Helier in the House of Commons on many occasions, and engaged with local communities to encourage involvement with the consultation.
Paul Scully MP commented: “I am over the moon with today’s announcement. Our area has been in desperate need of upgraded healthcare facilities for decades.
“We’re all aware of the limitations of St Helier’s buildings and have heard stories about passengers being transported around St Helier by ambulance because the lifts aren’t wide enough for certain beds. Our amazing NHS key workers and local patients deserve so much better.
“There’s no greater time for urgency in this investment than now, during a global pandemic, to secure better facilities for our patients and staff.
“This result is the best option for local residents, not just in Sutton but also in Surrey Downs and Merton. Patient outcome is the top priority for the NHS, and the new Hospital in Sutton and upgraded district hospitals will deliver on that.
“After years of awful scare-mongering and playing politics by some local groups, we have come together with an agreed solution and the money to back it up, to provide new and improved local health facilities in the borough which will serve us so much better for many years to come. We can put to bed once and for all the myth that St Helier hospital is closing whilst also benefiting from a brand new, modern hospital in our local area.”
Surrey Downs, Sutton and Merton Clinical Commissioning Groups were allocated £500 million in September 2019 to improve the current buildings at Epsom and St Helier hospitals as well as build a new specialist emergency care hospital on one of the three sites – Epsom, St Helier or Sutton.
A public consultation for the proposals was conducted earlier in the year with Sutton as the preferred site for the new hospital.
The three CCGS met to approve the plans today and selected Sutton as the successful site for the new hospital.
Neil Garratt, Councillor for Belmont and London Assembly Candidate for Sutton: “I’m delighted the Conservative government is building a new acute hospital in Sutton, right here in Belmont as part of the London Cancer Hub. So I know just how much Belmont now needs Sutton Council and the London Mayor to get serious about improving the roads, railways, and bus service to the new hospital campus. Hospital staff, patients, and visitors all need smooth, efficient access to the hospital and people living nearby want the new hospital to be a good neighbour. So from the Council chamber to City Hall, let’s make sure Belmont gets the investment to make a brand new hospital a success.”
Under the plans, the majority of services will stay at Epsom and St Helier hospitals in refurbished buildings, with both hospitals running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with urgent treatment centres at each hospital.
Six core services will be brought together for the most unwell patients, those who need more specialist care, and births in hospital, onto the Sutton site in new state-of-the art buildings. This would mean that specialist doctors, nurses and clinical staff would be able to work together to provide round-the-clock specialist care.
Cllr Tim Crowley, Conservative Group Leader at Sutton Council, commented: "I am glad that a decision has been taken on the site for the brand new £500 million trauma centre of excellence and am also pleased that both St Helier and Epsom will still be utilised as major healthcare centres.
"This will mean that patients will no longer have to be taken to St George's as they are now and that this new facility will link in with the councils plans for the Cancer Hub. We now implore the health trust, GLA, council and government to move quickly on the transport infrastructure improvements that are needed to ensure ease of access to this site for patients and the workforce alike."
