Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government on what legal basis NHS Property Services is permitted to sell a property which has been endowed for use as a community hospital facility, as in the case of the Lambert Hospital in Thirsk.

The Government’s response to Sir Robert Naylor’s review on the National Health Service estate, published in January 2018, confirmed that properties owned by NHS Property Services are national rather than local assets and are rented to local providers. When moving out of those properties, rental payments stop which creates a financial benefit to the provider. Therefore, capital receipts from the sale of NHS Property Service properties will continue to be pooled at a national level and the investment directed to where it is most needed by patients. Local clinical commissioning groups can put forward a business case for local investment to NHS England for consideration.

The ownership of the Lambert Community Hospital in Thirsk transferred to NHS Property Services Ltd in 2013 as a result of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. NHS Property Services is not aware of any restrictions on title which prevents the sale of the property.