Leighton Hospital Rebuild

I will call Dr Kieran Mullan to move the motion and then the Minister to respond. As is the convention for 30-minute debates, there will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up.

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the rebuild of Leighton Hospital.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. My aim today is to take this opportunity to ensure that the rebuild of Leighton Hospital is front and centre of the Minister’s priorities, because a successful rebuild and management of the short-term challenges on the way there are vital to ensuring that my constituents, and residents across the region more broadly, can access excellent healthcare from their local hospital.

All of us involved in the campaign were delighted when we secured Leighton’s place in the £20 billion new hospital programme, which will see 40 hospitals benefit in the largest concerted effort in a generation to modernise our hospital estate. As part of that, Leighton Hospital will receive hundreds of millions of pounds in funding to be rebuilt. The current hospital is a crucial part of our local healthcare services. Built in the early 1970s, Leighton Hospital was opened by the late Queen in 1972. Generations of families have been born there and millions of people have received treatment there, and I know our local community is incredibly proud of its local hospital. Each year, the Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, of which Leighton is the primary site, has more than 100,000 A&E attendances and 290,000 outpatient appointments, and carries out more than 100,000 diagnostic tests. Leighton provides not just healthcare, but over 4,500 job opportunities to members of staff employed at the trust. Those fantastic members of staff cover a whole range of roles, including porters, cooks, receptionists, cleaners, occupational therapists, healthcare assistants, physiotherapists, nurses, doctors and many others.

Having worked in the NHS prior to becoming an MP, I know the difficulties that can arise working in buildings that are in need of refurbishment or, in this case, replacement. The physical infrastructure of the building being worked in is outside the control of the frontline staff, and they often have to do whatever it takes to make it work, but it would be better if they did not have to. Since it was built, Leighton has been expanded with new, modern buildings added on, including a new intensive therapy unit and theatre suite, campaigned for by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Edward Timpson) when he represented Crewe and Nantwich.

More recently, I worked with others to secure £15 million for a new A&E department. When it was originally built, much of the building was made with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete. RAAC is a lightweight, bubbly form of concrete, which was often used in schools, colleges and hospitals from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. It is usually found in roofs and occasionally walls and floors, and has since proven to be at risk of structural failure. Since that came to light, it was clear that something needed to be done to ensure that Leighton remains safe for patients.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Dr Mullan) on securing this important debate on the rebuild of Leighton Hospital. He is a tireless campaigner for improving healthcare in his constituency and across our country. I commend him for the frontline service that he gave in our NHS as an A&E doctor before entering the House, and for returning to work on the NHS frontline during the pandemic.

Securing the rebuild of the hospital was a long-term team effort. My hon. Friend worked hard alongside the local hospital leadership, my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Edward Timpson), my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) and thousands of their constituents who signed a petition to show their support. I myself have spoken to Aphra Brandreth, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Chester South and Eddisbury, who has told me of the huge benefits that the rebuild will have for local residents.

The Government announced the rebuild of Leighton Hospital in May 2023 as part of the new hospital programme. Like Leighton, six other hospitals that we are rebuilding were initially constructed using reinforced autoclave aerated concrete, more commonly known as RAAC. We took the decision to rebuild those hospitals by 2030 not only to protect the safety of patients and staff but to give them access to the best facilities and the newest technology, which is progress that will allow our NHS to improve patient outcomes, cut waiting lists and deliver for another 75 years.

I was particularly delighted by that announcement because, as the MP for Pendle, I was campaigning, like my hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich, for the full rebuild of my own local hospital—Airedale General Hospital, which is just “over the border” in the Keighley constituency—so I was incredibly pleased that its rebuild was also approved by the Government on the same day. For the sake of clarity, I was not a Health Minister at the time when I was campaigning for that rebuild, so all propriety and ethical rules were followed.