The modernisation of the Royal Sussex County Hospital

Conservative and Labour politicians are at odds over funding for the long-awaited modernisation of the Royal Sussex County Hospital. Frank le Duc reports

The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton is becoming a political battleground. Labour and Conservative rivals are slugging it out over a long-awaited modernisation of the Eastern Road site. And when the £420 million funding is approved – a senior government minister has stated that it’s a case of when, not if – then both sides are likely to claim victory.

In the meantime the Royal Sussex is at the heart of the Battle of Brighton Kemptown. Simon Kirby, the former Brighton and East Sussex Conservative councillor who won the marginal seat in 2010, has gone on the offensive. Last week he accused his main rival of misleading voters over the funding required to modernise the Royal Sussex. He said that a letter from Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt disproved claims made by Labour’s parliamentary candidate Nancy Platts.

Ms Platts said on Twitter in November: “@SimonKirbyMP luckily the last #Labour Govt put £420m aside for a new hospital in #Brighton.” This was not the case, said Mr Kirby, who has not forgotten the note left by Labour’s outgoing Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne. It said: “I’m afraid there is no money. Kind regards – and good luck!”

He was also riled by a letter posted by Ms Platts on her website from Labour Party member Nicky Easton which said: “Plans to build the new hospital at the Royal Sussex County have been in place long before the current government, with a business case for the hospital previously been approved under Labour in 2009.

“Provisional approval had been made by the last government subject to a number of conditions being fulfilled, not least planning consent, which was subsequently granted by the council unanimously in January 2012. The major issues that needed to be addressed for the hospital plan to get a green light have now been resolved.

“However, the project has stalled with the Department of Health and Treasury ever since, and final approval is being put at risk because the trust is being asked to make £30 million cuts each year for the next three years.
“Given that most of the work took place before the Conservative-led coalition was in power and Simon Kirby was MP, and scant progress has been made since, where has Simon Kirby been for the past three years to help make this vital new hospital happen? The fact that, 18 months before the next general election, Mr Kirby has belatedly begun to campaign for the hospital project to get off the ground looks exactly like the playing of party politics with the NHS that he has publicly bemoaned.”

WEAK SPOT
Mr Kirby has lobbied Mr Hunt about the project and last year presented a petition to him from constituents. He also brought Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Letwin to see the hospital’s Victorian buildings for himself. It was Mr Letwin who said that the question over funding was one of when not if. And Mr Kirby has raised the matter at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons.

But Mr Kirby is sensitive to Labour’s accusations – as are ministers. And his Labour opponents still regard the NHS as a potential weak spot for the Tories, particularly in the Kemptown constituency. So it should be no surprise that Mr Kirby received a supportive letter from the Health Secretary shortly after Christmas.

Mr Hunt said that the strategic outline case for redevelopment, needed before redevelopment could go ahead and agreed in 2008, “did not authorise any expenditure on construction works on site and did not require approval by the government… I can confirm categorically that development of the regional centre for teaching, trauma and tertiary care at the RSCH was not approved by the previous government and it is not the case that this government has withheld the release of funds for its construction.”

Mr Kirby said: “Nancy Platts owes the whole Brighton Kemptown constituency an abject apology. Labour had 13 years to redevelop the Sussex County and failed to do so. Nancy has misled local people when she says the last Labour Government ‘put aside’ the money needed. This is clearly not the case.

“Nancy would do better if she spent more time learning local facts rather than issuing misleading statements and attending demonstrations at the hospital where effigies of dedicated hospital staff are being paraded. That she would issue such a completely misleading statement on a matter of such importance brings into doubt her credibility as a parliamentary candidate for Labour.

“My campaign engaging local people, hard-working hospital staff, and members of the government, including the Prime Minister, will continue until my constituents and the hospital staff get the 21st century hospital they deserve. The Labour candidate would be better served by supporting my campaign rather than trying to score cheap political points at the expense of local people.”

Ms Platts said: “Accusations like this detract from the real issue. People in Brighton want to know when the hospital will be built. Everyone knows that Labour was behind this scheme and got the ball rolling. Now we need a commitment from Tory/Lib Dem government that it’s going to happen. Last week it was reported that the Royal Sussex was on red alert. Tory MP Simon Kirby needs to start asking his ministers why local people are not getting the investment that is so desperately needed in their local NHS.”

SEASONED CAMPAIGNER
Ms Platts is a seasoned campaigner – and no newcomer to Brighton. She ran Green MP Caroline Lucas a close second in Brighton Pavilion at the last general election. She may modify the content, but the basic message looks unlikely to change.

The spat follows a similar exchange two months ago when Warren Morgan, leader of the Labour group on Brighton and Hove City Council, weighed in. He accused Mr Kirby of doing little to secure the money needed to modernise the Royal Sussex. And he said that Mr Kirby had started campaigning only when the delayed decision about funding was about to be made.

Mr Kirby said that Councillor Morgan’s criticisms were inaccurate and added: “Labour Party members’ attacking comments on Twitter and elsewhere about my campaign to have a new hospital for Brighton are simply sour grapes. Any reasonable person will know that I have been consistently campaigning for the money Labour failed to release to come to Brighton to build a new hospital for everyone’s benefit.”

Councillor Morgan, who represents East Brighton ward on the council, said: “Our local MP has not attended any of the public meetings about the hospital, which I chair as the local councillor, for three years. He has asked no questions in the House of Commons to either the current Secretary of State for Health or his predecessor… We need a modern NHS hospital in the city. Why has the government dragged its feet for so long? And why has Mr Kirby done nothing about it till now?”
Mr Kirby said that he had attended meetings of the Hospital Liaison Group before he was elected to Parliament. But now he had to attend sittings of the House of Commons on Mondays which was when the liaison group met. Apart from presenting a petition from constituents to the Health Secretary, Mr Kirby said that he had pressed David Cameron on the subject at Prime Minister’s Questions. And he met the Chancellor last year and had liaised with hospital staff including the chief executive.

He added: “My hospital campaign is about bringing the community together to make a strong case to the government for funding to be released. It is a shame Labour cannot get behind the campaign as I think something which is so important to the city should be above party politics.

“However, to accuse this government of dragging its feet is bizarre when Labour had 13 years to give Brighton the hospital it deserves. As the Prime Minister has said to me: ‘I know that this is a matter close to your heart and that you have put a great deal of work into representing the views of your constituents.’”