Old hospital 'not a single penny' investment claim
Conservatives and Labour have clashed over investment in a crumbling hospital.
Stockton West Tory MP Matt Vickers said the government had "failed to allocate a single penny" to North Tees Hospital in a recent review of the New Hospital Programme.
However, Labour said the hospital was never included in the Conservatives' scheme to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030 and accused Mr Vickers of failing to get it on the list.
A recent review said it was clear the programme, promised by the Tories in their 2019 election manifesto, was "undeliverable and unaffordable".
Hospital chiefs said they were working on an outline case to get investment after claiming in 2023 that buildings on the estate in Hardwick only had "eight years of life left" and could cost up to £300m to maintain.
This is part of an infrastructure strategy being drawn up by the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, but it currently has no agreed funding route.
The North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust previously made a £380m bid for investment, but it was not chosen to be included in the programme.
Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen pledged to rebuild the hospital in his re-election campaign last year.
Mr Vickers said: "Labour campaigned on the promise of investment and change, yet their first opportunity to deliver for the people of Teesside has resulted in a complete betrayal.
"The people of Teesside deserve better and I will continue fighting to ensure we get the funding our hospital desperately needs."
The MP said the previous government had provided "unprecedented funding" in NHS facilities in Stockton, including £40m towards new radiology equipment.
A Labour source told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "So spectacular has Mr Vickers' failure been as an MP that he wasn't even able to get his hospital on the list for replacement when his own party was in office.
"Now, Labour is dealing with the mess they left and their imaginary 40 new hospitals that never even included North Tees."
In a statement Steve Taylor, group director of estates at University Hospitals Tees, said the facility had challenges because of an "ageing infrastructure".
"This remains a major concern and we continue to seek the capital funding needed for long-term solutions to this, but there are no immediate clinical risks," he said.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the government had inherited NHS buildings and equipment that had been "left to crumble".
It also said as well as the hospitals programme, more than £1bn had been set aside to "make inroads into the existing backlog of critical maintenance, repairs and upgrades".
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Government to review most Tory new-hospital schemes
'Crumbling' hospital needs to save £20m
'Urgent' bid for new hospital cash submitted
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North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust
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