New Liberal Democrat MP for Epsom & Ewell Helen Maguire has called for the planned new emergency care hospital and upgrading of Epsom hospital to be protected following this week’s Chancellor’s Statement to the House of Commons

In the Statement, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that a number of infrastructure projects were at risk of being cut in order to balance the books following years of Conservative economic mismanagement, including plans to deliver 40 new hospitals.

In response, Helen Maguire said that this should not include the new emergency care hospital at Sutton.

Helen said that her constituents “cannot wait any longer” for the previously promised investment in the new hospital, as it is designed to relieve pressure on Epsom and St Helier hospitals by offering a new centre of excellence and a state-of-the-art facility for the most serious emergency hospital cases.

The new Lib Dem MP said that without it, staff and patients in Epsom, Ewell, Ashtead and Leatherhead would continue having to put up with sub-standard buildings on the two current over developed sites – both of which will also need to be upgraded once the new hospital relieves pressures on them.

She said that she looked forward to taking up the Chancellor’s offer of a meeting with the Health Secretary for those MPs whose constituencies are affected by changes to the scheme.

In that meeting Helen said she would put across her, and her constituents' concerns, about any withdrawal of funding and the consequences this may have on local people.

She stated:

“We must be clear. The Conservative party’s economic vandalism decimated the public finances, left our services in tatters and stretched household budgets to breaking point. The various Conservative promises to build our new hospital were clearly not worth the paper they were written on.

“My constituents have been crying out for improvements at Epsom and St Helier and so it is vital that this project must go ahead.

“That is why I look forward to taking up the Chancellor’s offer of a meeting with the Health Secretary where I can relay the concerns of the people of Epsom, Ewell, Ashtead and Leatherhead directly, and to call on the government to protect funding for the new Emergency Care Hospital at Sutton.

“My constituents should not have to wait any longer for this desperately needed investment in our area and for our local health service to get back on its feet after years of decline under the Conservatives.”