Relief over hospital decision and fun at the Soapbox Derby

In his fortnightly column, MP James Wild discusses the hospital rebuild and a successful event on the coast…“It’s like déjà vu all over again.” The phrase from legendary baseball catcher Yogi Berra stuck in my mind on Friday as I read a letter from the Health Secretary containing very welcome news that plans for Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Lynn will now be exempt from the government’s review of the New Hospitals Programme on safety grounds and can proceed.It is over a year since the last Conservative government reset the programme specifically to make QEH a priority due to the very same RAAC issues. But unfortunately following the general election, the Labour government threw that decision up in the air and announced that it would review the New Hospitals Programme in its entirety. Needless to say, that caused damaging uncertainty for QEH staff and patients and additional delays in moving ahead with the plans. Since the election, in Parliament, I have repeatedly pressed the Health Secretary to prioritise QEH.

Now the government has finally confirmed that the seven RAAC-built hospitals – including QEH – will no longer be part of the review and “will proceed at pace due to the substantive safety risks associated with these.” It is a relief they have listened to those concerns and belatedly agreed this scheme will proceed.It is very frustrating frankly however that we had to fight again for this decision given the obvious need to replace QEH set out in the independent expert report for the Department of Health that gives 2030 as its end of life. But better late than never and this shift will lift the uncertainty caused by the initial announcement of a review.Nevertheless, we have lost important time given the 2030 date. I’ll continue working with the QEH Trust and others to ensure we get the approvals and plans needed so we have the new hospital by 2030 for our community. I know from my inbox that local people are keen to find out more about what the new hospital will be like. So it is timely that QEH is holding a series of public meetings in the coming weeks to share more on those plans and let people ask questions and have their say. I encourage you to go along and find out more. Register here.Last Sunday I had the pleasure of taking part in the Hunstanton Soapbox race. After a dry morning, the rain came down ahead of my turn to take on the course. That’s my excuse for spinning out of control after the second chicane anyway!Fortunately, my Birkin’s Boys teammate had secured a fast time in the morning session which meant even though we didn’t successfully defend our trophy we still registered among the top three finishers. This was a very well organised event with lots of local support so thanks to the borough council, volunteers, supporters, and everyone involved in putting on the race.