The health secretary has slammed delays for a new hospital for Reading, accusing the previous Conservative government of misleading people.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary for the Labour government, visited Reading on (Wednesday, April 8 ahead of the local elections.
He held a rally with Labour councillors, candidates and activists in Prospect Park.
Delays remain for an ambitious project to build a new hospital for the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust at Thames Valley Park in Earley.
The previous Conservative government promised to build 40 new hospitals by 2030 in its 2019 general election pledges.
Despite hopes that new hospitals could be delivered in this time, the Labour government elected in 2024 stated the new Royal Berkshire Hospital would be delayed until at least 2037, well past the end of this parliament in 2029.
Mr Streeting said: “I’m so angry at the way in which the Tories misled people about the new hospital programme and the replacement for the Royal Berks.
“We came in and found the timetable was a work of fiction and the money wasn’t there.
“I think people can now see not only a realistic timetable from Labour, but we are also putting our money where our mouth is.
“So we’ve provided the £10 million needed to buy the site for the new hospital.
“So that should give people confidence that it is actually going to happen.
“And secondly, we’ve put £4.3 million into the current site for safety improvements, for some new facilities, because we recognise that the new Royal Barks is going to take longer than people would have hoped, but we’re not going to ignore the Royal Barks in the meantime.
“And just this afternoon I’ve been talking to some of our activists here who either work in the NHS or have just received life-saving treatment from the NHS, in spite of all of the challenges they face at the Royal Berks, there are some brilliant people in there providing outstanding care, and I want to make sure that people know they’ve got a Labour government on their side.”
His visit took place just as junior doctors at the Royal Berkshire Hospital engage in a six day strike which will end on Monday, April 13.
Mr Streeting said: “This week’s strikes were totally unnecessary, totally avoidable, quite self-defeating, because the 300 million pounds this is going to cost could have gone into doctors’ pockets and could have gone into the NHS.
“But we will do our best to keep the show on the road, to keep cutting waiting lists in spite of strikes, as we have done over the last year.”
The Labour activists then fanned out to knock on doors of people in the Norcot and Southcote wards.
Mr Streeting is the Labour MP for Ilford North.
