14-04-2025
St Helier A&E 'at breaking point' and is among London's worst for wait times
A&E services at St Helier Hospital are facing unprecedented pressure says local MP, with more than 2,000 patients waiting more than 12 hours for treatment this past winter.
Bobby Dean MP believes the Sutton hospital has reached a 'breaking point' as the Trust has been named one of the worst-performing NHS trusts in London in terms of A&E wait times.
Research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats revealed that more than 34 per cent of patients had to wait more than 12 hours to be admitted to A&E at Epsom and St Helier Trust.
St Helier Hospital Sutton
Carshalton and Wallington MP Mr Dean slammed these delays, pointing out the Trust's infrastructure is struggling under the pressure of outdated facilities.
He said: 'Delays to the promised St Helier upgrades directly threaten the future of our hospital and leave patients and NHS staff paying the price.
"The queues to get emergency treatment are spiralling across the country, but the poor state of our buildings is making the situation even worse.'
Bobby Dean MP
In 2019, the then-Boris Johnson-led government promised £500 million for Sutton as part of the nationwide New Hospital Programme (NHP).
The estimated cost now, though, is between £1.5 billion and £2 billion. The NHP promised to build 40 new hospitals by 2030.
However, the current Labour government have since dismissed Mr Johnson's plans as 'a work of fiction'.
As a result, vital upgrades have been pushed back to the 2030s, leaving the future of St Helier Hospital hanging in the balance.
The hospital's ageing infrastructure has exacerbated the strain, leaving the community to suffer while vital upgrades remain delayed.
Mr Dean warned the delays to upgrades threaten the hospital's future, leaving both patients and NHS staff bearing the brunt.
He described the growing queues for emergency care as a national crisis but added that the poor condition of hospital buildings is making the situation even worse.
The local MP shared a personal experience of the crisis, recounting how an elderly relative had to wait on the floor in A&E due to a shortage of trolleys and beds.
'The government must see sense and urgently bring forward these long-overdue upgrades,' Mr Dean said.
In response, a spokesperson for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: 'While patients in our emergency department are kept safe and we prioritise those who are the sickest, we don't want to be providing care in this way and apologise to anyone experiencing long waits as our teams continue to do the best they can under huge pressure.
'We've been very busy, driven by a surge in viruses such as flu and norovirus – people can help us by using NHS 111, their GP or a pharmacy if their need is less urgent, and by getting their jabs.'
The trust has spent £60 million over the past five years improving its facilities but admitted its ageing hospitals are deteriorating faster than they can be fixed. They added that while construction of a new hospital and upgrades to existing sites will now begin later than planned, patient safety remains the trust's top priority.
