Burstow: Better Healthcare plan to sell land at Sutton is 'selling off the family silver'.

12.00.00am GMT Tue 2nd Oct 2007

Local MP Paul Burstow has said that plans to sell off land at Sutton Hospital to fund building work planned under the Better Healthcare Closer to Home is equivalent to 'selling off the family silver.'

Mr Burstow was commenting on figures given to stakeholders by the Better Healthcare team last week. The document gives four financial assumptions which the team has made about funding the plans.

The assumptions include Epsom and St Helier Trust investing its full capital budget in the programme and the sale of land worth £30 million at Sutton and Epsom Hospitals. Once all the assumptions have been made, a funding gap worth millions still exists.

Commenting on the news, Paul Burstow MP said:

"Selling off NHS land is a bit like selling off the family silver: once it is gone, you can never get it back.

"What the people in the south and west of the borough need is good quality healthcare close to their homes.

"The Sutton Hospital site offers the only practical location for a local care centre.

"I have challenged London NHS bosses about the affordability of these proposals right from the beginning.

"Now the truth is out: the sums only add up if NHS bosses are prepared to sacrifice one Hospital to build another."

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