MP calls for long-term fix at crumbling hospital

An outpatient building at Stepping Hill was recently condemned due to safety fears

An MP has called for a long-term fix to problems at a crumbling hospital as bulldozers move into demolish a condemned outpatient building.

Patients at Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport have faced widespread disruption in recent months due to falling ceiling tiles, leaks, and heating failures.

The town's Labour MP Navendu Mishra said the ageing site was a "serious concern", after raising the issue at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

A government spokesman said the hospital had been given funds including £30m for a new A&E building, and £4.8m for maintenance.

Demolition work has started at a condemned outpatients building at the site

About 6,300 people work at the sprawling NHS site, which first opened as a hospital 1905.

It is one of the largest hospitals in Greater Manchester, serving Stockport as well as parts of Cheshire and Derbyshire, but has suffered from the poor condition of some its buildings.

Demolition work has started at the outpatients B department, which shut last year after failing a safety inspection, causing a significant reduction in capacity for consultant clinics.

Tiles fell from the roof of the intensive care unit in March, forcing patients to be evacuated and taking 13 critical care beds out of action until earlier this week.

Elsewhere, a recent leak at the radiology department led to ultrasound appointments being rescheduled.

Tom Morrison, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Cheadle West and Gatley in Stockport, said he met nurses there who "referred to themselves as a bucket squad" as they had regularly put them out to catch rain from the ceiling.

Work has begun on a new £30m A&E building at Stepping Hill Hospital

In a statement the hospital trust said leaks were "relatively common across a large estate", and apologised to all ICU patients for issues with the ceiling.

Mr Morrison, who is also the parliamentary Liberal Democrat candidate for Cheadle, said the site was in a "dire state", and said he felt a new hospital needed to be built.

Either a new site or investment in the current facilities were needed to move away from the "patchwork" of issues at the hospital, Mr Mishra said.

It was clear many of the buildings were in "urgent need of replacement", the Conservative MP for Cheadle Mary Robinson said.

A spokesperson for NHS Greater Manchester said the board worked closely with the hospital trust to prioritise how its annual capital allocation from the government is spent.

Work is ongoing at Stepping Hill to build a £30m new A&E campus, which is set to increase capacity at the hospital when it opens later this year.