St Luke's Hospital in Market Harborough delays 'a farce'

The growing size of the town has increased calls to expand facilities at the site

Plans for a hospital extension in Leicestershire have been labelled "a farce" after new delays emerged.

New wards at St Luke's in Market Harborough have been discussed since the 1980s but a series of projects have failed and deadlines passed.

In January NHS bosses said work would start in the spring but now admitted internal leases had not been signed.

Harborough MP Sir Edward Garnier has again written to the Health Secretary calling for better leadership.

The hospital currently provides rehabilitation, palliative care and endoscopy.

A new day unit came in almost £900,000 over budget after the original contractor was fired

In 2007 a £13m project was shelved as "not viable", then a scheme to use prefabricated units for a day care facility ran into trouble in 2011 when contractor Modcon was sacked.

This was eventually completed in 2012, almost £900,000 over its £2.3m budget.

The latest phase - due to cost nearly £8m - had been expected to begin "in late spring" but no work has started.

Mr Garnier's letter to Jeremy Hunt also labelled the project "a local joke, a farce" and "a shambles", pointing to "managerial incompetence".

He said: "The history of this is absurd, the amount of money wasted on doing nothing is a scandal.

"I met two people but I did not get the impression they would get a grip on the problem. We are talking about elements of the National Health Service moving into a National Health Service site.

"There is no management, there is no responsibility."

In a statement NHS Property Services said: "We are at a critical stage of signing lease agreements. These are a legal requirement so cannot be rushed and we cannot engage the builders to start work on the site without these in place.

"Throughout the process, we have been in constant contact with the tenants and continue to work hard to support them in reaching a satisfactory outcome for everyone."