The District Council has shown its support for Newark Hospital. This follows the debate on an Adjournment Debate held earlier this month at Parliament.

In the debate Dr Dan Poulter the Health Minister said that he hoped that Sherwood Forest Hospital Trust could improve the Minor Injuries Unit at Newark to take Category 2 incidents.

The Minor Injuries Unit could and should be upgraded. The Minister for Health Dr Dan Poulter now agrees. We will see if any action results from this.

This replicates the comments that I made earlier concerning the long term future of the Newark Hospital. I believe that an enhanced Minor Injury Unit is the best way forward. I proposed this late last year in an amendment at the District Council which was not supported by the Conservatives at that time.

The Trust spends 17% of its income on the PFI project – although the Public Sector Comparator was a cheaper version at the time.The PSC was not allowed to proceed by the Labour Government. The only way of upgrading our local hospitals was to have a PFI Project. So I supported the Project, as the only way to update our Hospitals from the wards built in 1944 [as part US Military Hospital when it was first built]!

I will report back on the outcome of the visit of the Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter to Newark Hospital, and any other changes proposed for Newark Hospital by the Trust.