In a board meeting on 19th February, the NHS Integrated Care Board agreed to cancel the £10m Hinckley Day Case Unit scheme.
This is an incredibly disappointing decision for our community. I, like many residents, am angry.
The NHS's papers are clear: delays by both the NHS and Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council, rising costs, new service provision elsewhere and the changing financial context by the Labour Government nationally have all led to the scheme’s cancellation.
Delays
In the papers, the NHS states: “Since the approval of the Capital Business case in 2024, delays can be attributed to: The planning application phasing (considering the contention surrounding the demolition of the Hinckley District Hospital due to the history of the building… The delay in submitting the planning application to allow the development of a robust design to address the Local Planning Authority’s concerns about the demolition.”
This includes a last-minute letter from the Lib Dem Borough Council Leader, Stuart Bray, asking the Health Secretary to "look again" and delay the project further. Cllr Bray went so far as to state he didn't see the delay as "too much concern". I was not sighted on, nor informed of, the sending of such a letter, and criticised this intervention so late in the process.
I made it clear at the time that this put the project in serious jeopardy, as we need a hospital not a museum. The Hinckley District Hospital, as the papers confirm, is no longer in use and stands derelict.
For the record, the NHS have said specifically, “Due to the design and specification of the building (the current hospital), it was no longer fit to provide modern healthcare services”. The Hospital has been gutted and in a state of disrepair for two years.
What happens next?
Now, with extra costs due to delays, Labour's constraints on NHS capital spending, changes to priorities, and an updated assessment of services in Leicestershire, the Day Case Unit has been cancelled.
I’ve already contacted our local NHS leaders, the County Council and Borough Council to invite them to an emergency summit so that we can work together on securing the best possible proposal to meet our healthcare needs.
While the NHS and Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council have a lot to answer for, we must now do everything we can to secure better healthcare.
Healthcare in our area
We have had huge success with the £24m Community Diagnostic Centre that is now open.
The decision to cancel the Day Case Unit is certainly a big setback, but by no means a defeat for our community!
Encouragingly, in the NHS papers, it says "The ICB acknowledges that the building cannot be left in the current condition. The ICB have every intention to develop a proposal for the building that meets the needs of the local population and supports the development of neighbourhood health in line with the government’s 10-year health plan.
The papers continue to say, “The ICB will need to consider an alternative plan for the site. Currently the building stands derelict and is part of a wider ‘Health’ campus. In the interim, the £2.7m allocated to the scheme will be used to develop the site.”
I will continue to do all I can to secure better healthcare for Hinckley and the surrounding areas.
As always, I will keep you updated as soon as I know more.
