THE LEADER of the Liberal Democrats says Lee Mack, the host of the 1% Club would not be impressed to learn the Royal Berkshire Hospital is in that group.
Visiting Reading on Friday, March 22, Sir Ed Davey was highlighting the research by the party showing the Royal Berkshire Healthcare Trust had spent £5.2million on staff time and external contractors on proposals to build a new hospital – one of 40 promised by Boris Johnson in the 2019 general election.
However, work has yet to start, and was originally estimated to be between £650m and £700m, with costs expected to have risen due to inflation.
The Lib Dems say there have been the equivalent of 26 full-time staff members working on the project, even though the project has yet to get out of the starting blocks.
Options include rebuilding the existing site, or creating a new purpose-built centre in Shinfield, Green Park or Thames Valley Park. However, the government had yet to transfer any funds to the local NHS trust to build a new hospital.
Sir Ed, speaking to Reading Today, said: “The Royal Berkshire Hospital has needed rebuilding for some time now.
“The Conservatives promised they would. This is my fourth visit and the prospect of it being rebuilt any time soon is extremely slim.”
He said the government was now talking about building the site in the next decade, something he felt wasn’t good enough for Reading and Wokingham residents.
“They must feel really let down by the Conservatives,” he said. “We’ve done freedom of information requests to see if there’s any money being spent and it’s a tiny amount – less than 1% of what is needed to get this project off the ground.
“This is one of eight hospitals Conservatives have failed to fund. That shows you it’s not just here, but across the country where the Conservatives are failing on the NHS.”
He also said: “Conservative Ministers have failed to live up to their promises to people across Berkshire. Local health services are on their knees after years of Conservative party neglect and people are rightly furious.
“Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government is denying people the health services they deserve and voters in Wokingham will not forget this come the election.
“Voters are fed up with being taken for granted by the Conservative party and at the next election they know it will be a choice between more of the same neglect or a hardworking Liberal Democrat MP that will stand up and fight for their local health services.”
