Stepping Hill Hospital

Debate between Navendu Mishra and Tom Morrison

Tuesday 10th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Morrison]

Many of the hospital’s wards are Nightingale wards, which cannot support contemporary care. As I have already mentioned, these wards do not have enough side rooms. That poses a massive risk in terms of infection control, but it also poses challenges when providing patients with the privacy and dignity they need. When patients are receiving end-of-life care, the hospital cannot always provide a separate room, and instead beds are curtained off to give families the privacy they need. To ensure that people are aware, staff place a candle on the ward entrance to tell others that someone is having their last moments with their friends and family. That was the hardest thing to see on our visit. It makes me so angry and ashamed that families in my constituency are saying goodbye to their loved ones in this way.

It is not just the physical infrastructure that needs addressing. Some staff talked me through how outdated computer software and internet connections mean that they have to use memory sticks to take images from one computer to another. Some of the images are for time-critical operations, in which every second counts, yet clinicians, doctors and nurses had no option but to walk memory sticks from one computer to another, wasting precious time.

Finally, let me talk about the conditions the staff work in. The ward designs in the older buildings make staffing a serious challenge. Staff-to-patient ratios mean that nurses must look after no more than eight patients, but some wards have 14 beds, meaning that two nurses are required, despite one of those nurses being underutilised. The staff rooms are also completely inadequate; I saw one room that could fit only two people comfortably, despite there being 12 people on that ward, while the staff room on the cardiology unit, which serves 30 people, has only one toilet.

[Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman, my constituency neighbour, on securing this debate on an important issue for the three MPs who represent the local authority of Stockport. I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests regarding my trade union membership and being chair of the all-party parliamentary group on cancer.

All of us in this House would agree that our constituents deserve high-quality, first-class, reliable care in hospitals and from our GPs, and that the staff also deserve high-quality services. I am not sure that I agree with the hon. Gentleman’s suggestion for a new location for a new hospital—I think there should be a wider discussion, but I do not wish to take up too much time in dissecting the Stockport local plan. However, I do agree that Stepping Hill hospital is simply not adequate for patients or staff. Does he agree that in the past two years this Government have allocated £2.5 million for targeted safety works, £26 million for the construction of a new pathology building and £75 million for the Stockport NHS foundation trust over the next four years? That is a stark contrast with the previous 14 years—the coalition Government, of which his party was part, and the Conservative Government that followed.

[Mr Morrison]

I respect the hon. Gentleman a lot; we all work well together as Stockport MPs. Although we should never say no to money coming into the hospital, even the NHS trust is saying that this money does not touch the sides, as I have said. We need more investment, and the £134 million repair bill needs to be sorted. We can discuss the need for a different site another time; I am fully behind Stockport needing a new hospital site.

I was talking about the staff room for the cardiology unit, which serves 30 people but has only one toilet. That is not to mention the fact that the toilet windows are not frosted over, so there is a massive privacy issue for the staff. I was also told about one member of staff who works in reception in one unit and who uses an electric wheelchair. Horrifyingly, their work environment is completely inadequate, not only because the doors to the unit are not suitable for wheelchairs to go through, but because they cannot access an accessible toilet and so are forced to leave the building in which they work to go to another a few minutes away. Often they have to go out in the rain just to use a facility that they should have the right to use. That is simply a disgrace, and I cannot believe it is happening in 2026.

I asked why that person still felt the need to work there even with such basic accessibility requirements not being met. I was told that it was because they cared so much about the hospital, about Stepping Hill and about the job they do that they would not leave. That was a running theme through our visit. Despite all the issues and problems I have laid out, the staff across Stepping Hill maintain excellent standards in conditions that are working against them. They continue to provide an unbelievably caring and wonderful service. They are a credit to the NHS and to Stockport. They never complain or down tools because of the conditions; instead, they get on with the job.

My partner Lou and I sadly needed to spend time at Stepping Hill recently. Despite the awful reasons we were there, we felt protected, supported and cared for. I want to take this moment to say thank you to the staff for everything they did for us, for keeping us safe and for looking out for us. I promise here that I will always have their back and will never stop campaigning to get them the hospital they deserve.

So what is the solution? The Government announce bits of support every now and then, and they often announce the same pots of money time and again in the hope that it looks like support is there, but that does not help. We need a fully funded strategy for how Stepping Hill will be saved. There were plans for a new hospital in Stockport that were originally rejected by the previous Conservative Government. The plans would have enabled some relief for Stepping Hill and helped free up much-needed space on the estate. The plans also had backing from the trust and the council, which partnered to develop them, and the integrated care board. They pushed as much as they could. Sadly, it does not appear that the hon. Member for Stockport (Navendu Mishra) supported them, but we will talk about that another time.

Whatever the solution, the fact is that action is now desperately needed. We cannot go on with more debates, more questions to Ministers and the Prime Minister, more letters to the Department of Health and Social Care and more meetings with officials—the Government have to act now. For over a decade the Conservative Government left Stepping Hill hospital to rot. This Government cannot do the same, and the Minister should not allow that to happen.

I want to end with a number of questions for the Minister. First, it is clear what help is needed and required, so why have the Government failed to act so far? Secondly, is it appropriate for 30 NHS staff members to share one toilet and that an NHS worker who uses a wheelchair has to go out in the rain to access the nearest accessible toilet? Thirdly, is it fair that patients at the end of their life cannot share their final moments with friends and family in privacy and with dignity? Finally, will the Minister come to Stepping Hill hospital along with the Prime Minister, who often talks about Stockport and the work he did there, so that they can see at first hand what happens when those in Westminster and Whitehall take our hospitals for granted?