Torbay’s MP says the decision to delay a vital £350 million rebuild at the bay’s main hospital is a double betrayal.
The government announced yesterday that work on the Torbay Hospital project won’t start until 2032 at the earliest, despite the ageing building suffering sewage leaks and ventilation failures being among a catalogue of problems.
Lib Dem MP Steve Darling said the previous Conservative government had failed to keep its promises to Torbay, and now the Labour administration had let it down as well.
He said: “I’m shocked and disappointed. This is nothing but a double betrayal by the previous government, who failed to bring home the bacon, and now we are looking at a significant delay.”
Torbay’s long-awaited rebuild was first announced under Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson as part of his high-profile pledge in 2020 to build ‘40 new hospitals’ across the country, but funding had not been put in place by the time Labour took power in the 2024 general election.
Since the election, health minister Wes Streeting has been reviewing the projects against a backdrop of difficulties with public finances.
Mr Streeting said: “Despite the claim, there were not 40 ‘new’ schemes and some were just refurbishments or extensions. To put it simply – there were not 40 of them, they were not all new and many were not even hospitals.
“Most shocking of all, the funding for the programme was due to run out in March of this year, with no provision for future years whatsoever. The money simply was not there.
“If I was shocked by the state of this programme, patients ought to be furious.”
In a dossier sent to Mr Streeting, Mr Darling explained the conditions at Torbay Hospital.
Both patients and staff have picked up infections as a result of sewage leaks on site, and on one occasion the ear, nose and throat department was completely flooded by a sewage leak that wiped out all outpatient activity for a week.
Ventilation in operating theatres has failed, and ventilation in the special care baby unit does not meet prescribed standards. Insufficient ventilation in the post-mortem room of the mortuary resulted in a member of staff contracting TB from a dead patient.
The tower block which contains the main in-patient wards has severe defects in the concrete, and there are ‘multiple significant fire safety issues’ across the site. The main restaurant and ward kitchens are no longer fit for purpose, roofs are leaking and CCTV is below standard.
Mr Darling went on: “Torbay will sadly continue to suffer significant sewage leaks, many of them affecting clinical areas within the hospital.
“We are already operating at 98 per cent capacity, which means that people are not receiving the services they deserve.
“My fear is that residents will be suffering all the pain of the National Insurance contribution hike that will impact on our low-wage economy, without actually seeing the benefit of the money being invested in our NHS in Torbay immediately.”
Other Lib Dem MPs whose constituents use Torbay Hospital also voiced their anger. South Devon MP Caroline Voaden said: “This government was elected on a desire for change, but today’s decision is just more of the same.
“For years, Torbay Hospital was repeatedly let down by the Conservatives, and Labour are picking up where they left off. ”
And Newton Abbot MP Martin Wrigley added: “Having toured Torbay Hospital, and seen the state of decay, I am dismayed that this has been kicked into the long grass. The hospital is not fit for purpose, and the people of Newton Abbot have yet again been let down, Devon deserves better after years of Conservative cuts.”
Former Torbay Conservative MP Kevin Foster, who was ousted by Mr Darling last summer, also hit out at the government’s decision to delay the bay’s hospital project.
He said: “The news is a shock and a blow to our bay. It is hard to see how the urgent need to replace buildings dating back to the 1920s at Torbay Hospital, the third oldest in the NHS still in daily use, did not see it placed higher in Labour’s priorities.”
Work on North Devon District Hospital has been delayed even longer, not starting until at least 2035. A £600 million upgrade to the hospital’s facilities has been promised.
However, there was better news for Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital, where work on a £180 million emergency care centre could begin this year.
Fred Thomas, Labour MP for Plymouth Moor View, said: “The health secretary has seen the pressure we’re under, he has listened, and I’m so glad that he has announced what I’ve been asking for.”