Local MP James Duddridge Welcomes announcement of additional 41 Million Investment to Southend Hospital and Urges Local Residents to Participate in The Upcoming Consultation.
I am delighted with the announcement of an additional investment in all 3 hospitals with Southend Hospital receiving the larger share.
The initial extra funding for the hospital was announced in the budget but I am now pleased to announce that Southend Hospital will benefit £41 million, Basildon Hospital £30 million and Broomfield Hospital near Chelmsford – £19 million.
James Said:
“I am delighted that my continual lobbying to the government has resulted in Southend Hospital receiving an additional 41 Million. This is a much larger payment than other mid Essex hospitals, Basildon and Broomfield receiving £30 million and £19 million respectively.
Over the summer many constituents feared that services at Southend Hospital would be reduced, which were fuelled by a momentum backed campaign ‘Save Southend A&E’. This additional investment demonstrates the conservative commitment to the National Health Service.
The job is not done and I encourage all my constituents to participate in the formal public consultation on the plans for the future of the health and care services.
This announcement shouldn’t deter my constituents from fully participating in consultation as it will give them an opportunity to have their views heard and ensure that the service is reflective of the needs of the constituency”
Clare Panniker, Chief Executive of the hospitals said:
“Although we are still working through all of the detail this could represent the most significant investment into mid and south Essex for almost a decade and we are delighted. This is an important step in the work we have been doing to develop proposals to secure and improve the care we provide for our population in the future.
“It will help us to improve the quality of the facilities in which we care for patients, helping to bring clinical areas up to modern standards.
“It is exciting news but does not mean the decision on services has been made. There is still a lot of work to do, including the full public consultation where our communities will again have the opportunity to tell us their views to help us build a model”
Dr Caroline Dollery, GP and chair of Mid Essex CCG said:
“The public consultation is an important next stage in the work we have been doing together to develop and build a health and care system fit for the future for the people of mid and south Essex and provide them with a further opportunity to give us their views to help shape the proposals.
“This is not a final decision to implement any of the changes described, which would only happen after the consultation with our local communities has finished and the feedback independently analysed.”
Dr Celia Skinner, chief medical officer for the three hospitals said:
“These proposals set out our ambition to reorganise services across our hospital sites in Basildon, Chelmsford, Southend and Orsett so that we are working together to deliver the best services we can, using our people and resources as effectively as possible for the greatest benefit.
“This happens already for a number of conditions and local doctors and health professionals have been working over many months on the possibilities of bringing together other highly specialist services and how best to separate emergency surgery from planned operations, to reduce cancellations.
“We welcome the public consultation as it represents the next opportunity to discuss these proposals more formally with local people and stakeholders to further seek their views on the potential changes.”