Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow

Steve Barclay Excerpts

Tuesday 5th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Health (Stephen Barclay)]

I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon). He raises the important issue of the future of the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, and is quite right to draw the attention of the House to it once again. As he said, he has raised this in a previous Adjournment debate, through multiple questions and in meetings with Ministers, including me, and he has secured visits from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and from my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Mr Dunne).

The strength of my right hon. Friend’s campaign is further reinforced by the number of colleagues here this evening. Dare I say, Madam Deputy Speaker, that I am sure the constituents of Epping Forest take a great interest in Harlow’s future hospital; this issue concerns you as well as my hon. Friends the Members for Saffron Walden (Mrs Badenoch), for Broxbourne (Mr Walker) and for Hertford and Stortford (Mr Prisk), who are all here signalling their support for this important capital programme.

I join my right hon. Friend in paying tribute to Nancy Fontaine, the chief nurse and deputy chief executive. She has played an important, transformative role at the Princess Alexandra over the past few years and may now, I understand, be moving to a new post. She has played a key role in taking the Princess Alexandra out of special measures—a distinction achieved in March this year. The trust improved its overall CQC rating, having been rated good in the effective and caring domains. That is a tribute to Nancy Fontaine, the senior leadership team and the entire staff of the hospital, who have worked so hard.

I also recognise that, as my right hon. Friend said, Princess Alexandra Hospital does face problems with the condition of its estate and buildings; he and I have discussed the issue during oral questions, and the Secretary of State has also recognised the point. NHS Improvement has advised that the condition of the hospital is not currently fit for purpose. It is right that plans are made to improve the estate and that those plans should be locally driven.

As my right hon. Friend will be aware, the Government fully support the upgrading of the NHS estate to bring the NHS further into the 21st century. That is why we have committed £3.5 billion of additional capital funding in the 2017 autumn Budget to support the most ambitious programme of investment in buildings and technology that the NHS has seen to date.

My right hon. Friend referred to the application from the Princess Alexandra, and he will be well aware that the strategic outline case was put forward in July 2017 with the support of the local authority, outlining the various options that had been considered. The strategic outline case concluded that the best option was to build a new hospital, potentially as part of a broader health campus on a new site. The trust secured local support from the clinical commissioning groups and the sustainability and transformation partners for that strategic outline case, which has been through the necessary local healthcare governance procedures. I am pleased that plans for the new hospital and health campus are supported so strongly by local NHS stakeholders.

The trust submitted a bid in autumn 2017 for STP capital for its integrated healthcare campus scheme, which was intended to replace the existing Princess Alexandra Hospital estate. The trust’s capital bid at that time asked for between £500 million and £600 million. That was not considered sustainable; the bidding process feedback asked the trust to revise its capital plans to a more realistic level.

It is also worth reminding the House, and this is partly a tribute to the success of my right hon. Friend’s campaigning for Harlow, that that sits alongside the many millions of pounds secured for the public health campus, which is due to open in phases from 2021. He is correct to identify the opportunities that both schemes bring for a wider NHS career as part of the investment the Government are making—not just in Harlow but in the healthcare of the region, reflected by the support of colleagues in the House.

Alongside those two schemes, the same STP, Hertfordshire and West Essex, also put in a bid for more than £600 million of capital funding in the same bidding round of autumn 2017 for the redevelopment of the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust Watford site. That is a signal of the amount of capital the Government are putting in and the need for the local plans to reflect the competing bids around the country as part of that appraisal. There have been other capital schemes, such as the £2 million to which my right hon. Friend referred, given to improve emergency capacity for the winter.

I look forward to hearing about the trust’s updated plans for how it intends to transform the way care is provided to patients through integration with community and primary care, rather than just re-provide capital assets. Schemes are required to demonstrate affordable revenue assumptions and value for money, and to fully consider disposing of surplus assets to part-fund their developments.

My right hon. Friend asked about timing. Given the challenges that the trust faces, I appreciate that it is a key issue for his constituents. An announcement will be made in the autumn on the next round of STP capital allocations, and I will continue our regular dialogue with him as that progresses. Bids are due by mid-July; I know the trust is fully aware of that timescale and I expect it is working closely to it.

I want to pick up on a comment my right hon. Friend made about the workforce. While capital is key to the redevelopment of the Harlow estate, it has to sit alongside wider workforce planning. The long-term nature of workforce planning has sometimes meant that there has perhaps been insufficient focus on this area. That is why the Government are bringing forward, through Health Education England, a workforce strategy this summer to look specifically at how we better plan for our workforce. I know that, particularly through his chairmanship of the Education Committee, my right hon. Friend champions a cause that is close to both our hearts: apprenticeships and how we better use them within the workforce. I am keen that he continues to work with the trust to expand the number of apprenticeships on offer. Based on quarter 1 to quarter 3 data, it has so far offered 10 apprenticeships, against a public sector target for the trust of 72, with a half a million pound apprenticeship levy to be allocated. There is therefore scope for the trust to continue its efforts on apprenticeships as part of that wider agenda. I know my right hon. Friend will continue to champion that agenda.

In conclusion, what is recognisable from the presence of my hon. Friends the Members for Saffron Walden, for Broxbourne and for Hertford and Stortford, as well as the constituency interests of other Members in the Chamber, is that this scheme is not just about Harlow but about the wider health care needs of the region. It is one that the Secretary of State has taken a close personal interest in, visiting on more than one occasion. It is one that my right hon. Friend has assiduously raised in the House and has done so, rightly, again today. I reaffirm, as I said to him when we last debated this matter on 8 May, that we recognise that the Princess Alexandra hospital estate is in a poor condition. That is why the bid that I expect in mid-July is timely. I look forward to the bid addressing the transformation challenge. It is part of the Government’s wider £3.5 billion commitment to the NHS estates until 2022-23. I know my right hon. Friend will support his local STP in the transformation the system needs. I look forward to continuing to work with him as part of the plans to ensure the NHS is fit for the future in Harlow and in the surrounding region.

Question put and agreed to.