Funding awarded towards repairs of the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading ‘does not touch the sides’, an MP has warned.
The Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading will receive a share of £4.4 million towards maintaining the site as it awaits rebuild.
It comes in a package of £750 million earmarked in the Autumn Budget.
The hospital on Craven Road was set to be rebuilt under the Conservative’s new hospitals programme – but this was delayed until as early as 2037 by the Labour government.
Labour’s review of the scheme saw multiple waves created with different time frames, with the Royal Berkshire placed in the final wave.
A total of £15 billion is being invested to secure the delivery of all 40 hospitals over a 15 year period.
In the meantime, hospitals have been given funding to help maintain sites.
But MP for Wokingham Clive Jones has blasted the funding, arguing it ‘does not touch the sides’.
The Royal Berkshire is currently facing a bill of more than £100m in repairs, which could rise to £400m over the next decade.
The rebuild of the hospital is expected to cost £2 billion alone.
Mr Jones said: “Even if the Royal Berkshire Hospital received £4.4m for the next ten years, they would still have a massive shortfall.
“Maintenace still remains a massive problem. Children who haven’t even been born yet will be turning 18 before the earliest possible date for the new hospital.”
Mr Jones’ constituency of Wokingham is likely to be the location for the new hospital.
The project had already selected two potential sites for the move, both within the Wokingham Borough, at either Thames Valley Business Park or Thames Valley Science Park.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting recently visited the Royal Berkshire’s new Urology Department, along with Reading MPs Olivia Bailey, Yuan Yang and Matt Rodda.
A total of £750 million has been given out to NHS trusts across England, which will support repairs in 400 hospitals, mental health units and ambulance sites.
Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, Brants Bridge in Bracknell and Wexham Park Hospital in Sloug are receiving £15m in total.
Frimley Park was exempted from Labour’s review of the new hospitals programme in September, due to being made up of two thirds crumbling concrete.
Nearby hospitals in Oxfordshire are receiving £10m in funding, while Hampshire hospitals have been allocated £1.6m.
The investment will help problems including leaky pipes, poor ventilated and electrical issues, which will prevent cancelled operations and appointments, the government said.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said on Friday, May 30: “A decade and a half of underinvestment left hospitals crumbling, with burst pipes flooding emergency departments, faulty electrical systems shutting down operating theatres, and mothers giving birth in outdated facilities that lack basic dignity.”
