At a meeting yesterday (Monday 9th March) with the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt MP, secured by local MP John McDonnell, the three Hillingdon MPs and representatives from Hillingdon Hospital urged the Secretary of State to support a bid from the hospital for £100 million to tackle the backlog of disrepair and maintenance of the hospital’s buildings exposed in a recent report by the Care Quality Commission. The bid is part of the implementation of the strategy to improve health care in North West London called”Shaping Healthier Futures.” At the meeting the Secretary of State acknowledged the need for investment and confirmed that he would be considering the bid seriously. The MPs invitedthe minister to come and see for himself the state of the fabric of the buildings.The Secretary of State also suggested that the hospital work with the local CCG to bring forward longer term plans for a complete rebuild of the hospital to ensure that we have a modern hospital ableto play its full role in improving local health. It was agreed that the hospital will bring together its health partners, the local CCG and Council, to start the process of preparing a bid for a new hospital.

John McDonnell MP said “If the plans for a new hospital had been accepted in 2008 under the last government we would not be in this dire situation but the key message that we got across to the Secretary of State was that whoever is in government after the election we need the £100 million investment quickly to ensure the current hospital can operate safely and effectively but realistically we need to be planning for a new modern hospital over the next few years. He seemed to accept our argument but we need now to set in process as quickly as possible the work to prepare the plans and bid for resources for that much needed new hospital.”