Reassurance over Torbay Hospital revamp

'The government has committed to supporting the National Health Service'

A government minister has given the clearest indication yet that the long-awaited revamp of Torbay Hospital is still on the cards.

There had been fears that the hospital’s massive makeover, which was pledged with funding from the previous Conservative government, could be a casualty of the new Labour administration’s cuts.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has spoken of having to fill a ‘black hole’ in public finances adding up to tens of billions of pounds.

Torbay’s Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling has sought assurances that the funding is still in place.

In a letter to health secretary Wes Streeting he highlighted conditions at the hospital which have been so bad that a member of staff caught tuberculosis from a dead body in the mortuary.

The MP said that, along with a sewage leak that forced a whole department to close, was among the reasons why the hospital must keep its promised government funding.

This week Mr Darling tabled a question asking what steps the Department of Health was taking to improve accident and emergency services at Torbay Hospital.

Health minister Karin Smyth replied: “The government has committed to supporting the National Health Service to improve performance across the country, including in Torbay.

“This includes returning to the standard set out in the NHS constitution, that 95 per cent of patients attending accident and emergency departments are admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours.”

And, said Ms Smyth: “Torbay Hospital is part of the New Hospital Programme, with plans including delivery of a new emergency department at the hospital.”