A NEW state-of-the-art hospital for Warrington has been put firmly on the agenda by Warrington South MP Andy Carter and the town’s NHS Trust.
Mr Carter hosted a meeting yesterday (Monday) with Health Minister Rt Hon Edward Argar MP and executives from Warrington & Halton NHS Trust and Warrington Council to discuss plans for a new hospital.
He welcomed the immediate £4.3m worth of funding to support A&E capacity at the Lovely Lane site ahead of the Winter months has brought together Hospital Chiefs to make the case to the Minister for a new hospital in the town.
Chairman of Warrington & Halton NHS Trust Steve McGuirk commented: “It was a really positive step to be able to make the case to the Minister for a new hospital in Warrington. The recent funding for A&E services was most welcome, but we have a vision at the Trust for a new state of the art hospital that can meet future demand and be a more welcoming place for residents.
“The team has been working hard on business cases for two developments across Warrington & Halton, and we will continue to work with partners to push the Government to allow us to get them over the line.”
Anticipated growth in population alongside a growing backlog of capital work means the need to address the future healthcare needs of the town is increasingly important.
A strategic board that includes representatives from the Council, CCG and representatives from Halton has been launched with a view to engaging with local people and providing the right services for the town into the future.
Mr Carter said: “Following my recent question in the House of Commons, I was pleased to get the opportunity to speak to the Minister with senior members of the Trust and Local Council yesterday. This will certainly be a long-term project for us, and these are the right first steps to engage with the Department for Health, but I’m pushing strongly for more funding to be released so that the hospital can complete its business case work and we can move towards development.
“We were also able to make the case that a new hospital would not only combat health challenges across the Town but would also be a key facet around regeneration of the town centre, freeing up land for housing in the process and acting as a catalyst for a new partnership with the University of Chester.”
3 Comments
Great news regarding the new hospital, but where in Warrington will it be??
I don’t want to put a damper on this but are not forgetting a few things? As a nation we are currently wrestling, some would argue not very well, with a pandemic, which closed down our economy, schools, universities and normal way of life. When we eventually emerge from this we will be laden with debt, which this and however many future generations will have to pay for. And then there is the not insignificant matter of Brexit to be negotiated, which like covid is also not being handled very well.
Granted our current hospital arrangement is unsatisfactory; but to a large extent that is of our local NHS Trust’s own making. They sold off valuable land to a local car dealer, and have decimated one element of our hospitals to benefit the other, instead of dealing with both to their mutual benefit. Compare the two hospitals in St Helens, the one at Marshall’s Cross and Whiston with our own at Lovely Lane and at Halton. They are like cheese and chalk. Should we not be making the most of what we have at both Lovely Lane and Halton equally instead of casting both aside and spending yet more money when our national coffers are empty?
So true , from a patient’s point of view Warrington and Halton are a million times more ” comfortable / relaxing ” environment than st Helen’s , which feels like you’re entering a train station . I don’t work there , but I have family members who do , and they have no complaints with faculties available to them