MP frustrated over Torbay Hospital funding

Conservative and Labour governments both blamed for under-investment

Torbay’s Liberal Democrat MP has accused the previous Tory government of ‘corporate vandalism’ as staff at the bay’s main hospital work in a crumbling building which is hit by sewage leaks.

And, he said, the current Labour government was ‘kicking the bay into the long grass’ by failing to provide enough investment.

Steve Darling highlighted the plight of the hospital and its staff during a Westminster debate on NHS capital spending.

He said he knew the hospital was in a ‘difficult place’ before he was elected in 2024, but he had been shocked by what he saw when he began to delve deeper.

“I was shocked by what was effectively wanton vandalism – corporate vandalism, even – undertaken by the previous Conservative government by making promises that they just could not keep.

“The vandalism – the fact that they chose not to invest – made it much harder to invest in the longer term and actually made it more costly.”

Boris Johnson’s government promised to include Torbay Hospital in a £3.7billion nationwide programme to build 40 new hospitals by 2030, aimed at replacing ageing, sub-standard infrastructure. The programme was not implemented before the change of government in 2024 and has been under review ever since.

Mr Darling said there had been more than 700 sewage leaks at the hospital, not only in corridors but also in clinical areas and wards. Deep cleans then meant delays for patients.

And, he added: “Approaching the hospital, someone might think that the 7th Cavalry was coming over the horizon. The tower block is wrapped in scaffolding, so it must be being sorted.

“However, the reality is that the £1million scaffolding is there purely to stop bits of the building falling off and braining staff and members of the public as they go past. Having to spend so much of our NHS money just maintaining a crumbling building is not good.”

The MP said there had been ‘exciting changes’ at the hospital, with millions of pounds worth of welcome investment in the emergency department. The daytime operations area is calm and businesslike, he said, but other parts of the hospital including areas for cancer patients were ‘chaotic’.

Investment in the endoscopy unit had brought a massive improvement, he added, but 85 per cent of the estate was below standard, he added. The pledged £350million government investment will only support half of the hospital.

The MP went on: “Torbay is one of the most deprived communities in the country and the NHS often picks up the rough end of that. Only recently, a director told me she has patients who believe that living to their 60s is a good span of life.

“Torbay has been kicked into the long grass until the mid-2030s.The staff are our most important asset, and they deserve that investment much sooner.”

The Department of Health and Social Care has said it has already confirmed a funding plan and ‘realistic time-frame’ to rebuild Torbay Hospital.