Amidst claims of the potential closure of Kingston Hospital on leaflets and literature distributed by the Liberal Democrats, James Berry MP and the Medical Director of NHS England respond.
*This article has been updated with a response from Liberal Democrat candidate Sarah Olney.
In the run-up to the Richmond by-election, an increasing amount of material has made it to the doors of Kingston’s residents to suggest that they should be concerned over the state of Kingston Hospital, that it may very well shut down – but is there any truth to this?
The source of conversation regards one of the NHS’ Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs). The NHS’ 2015 “NHS Five Year Forward View” plan called for the next government to give the NHS an extra £8 billion of funding by 2020 and for the NHS itself to identify £22 billion of efficiencies. The Liberal Democrats were the first party to sign up to this plan before the 2015 general election, which was then backed by the Conservatives but not Labour, who offered only £2.5 billion of extra spending on the basis that an £8 billion commitment could not be fully costed.
Earlier this year, it was reported that the Conservatives would be providing the additional £8 billion of funding to the NHS, as they had promised.
Full story in This is our town 26th November 2016