Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark has secured promise from Health Secretary Alan Johnson that he will visit the Kent & Sussex Hospital, site of one of the deadly outbreaks of C. Difficile which killed 90 people.

Following a private meeting with the Health Secretary, Mr Clark welcomed the move:

“I invited Mr Johnson to see for himself the crumbling conditions within which patients have to be cared for in the existing Kent & Sussex Hopsital and the urgent need for the new £225m Pembury Hospital. I am delighted that Mr Johnson said he would visit the Hospital with me.”

Seeking further re-assurance that the new hospital would be built, Mr Mr Clark continued:

“The scandalous C Difficile outbreak demonstrates the building of the new hospital is a literally a matter of life and death.

“The crumbling and cramped conditions of the Kent & Sussex Hospital must be replaced to give local people and families the standards of hygiene and accommodation they expect in the 21st Century.

Kent and Sussex hospital

“The Secretary of State gave me an assurance in an exchange in the House of Commons on Monday that the infections crisis would not delay the approval of new Hospital. But this project still needs Treasury agreement if contracts are to be signed and work begin within 6 months. So I asked Mr Johnson to obtain a commitment from the Chancellor of the Exchequer that the hospital will be built.

“I will not rest until the contracts are signed and the building work begins – I warned the Secretary of State that I will pursue and question him until this happens and the overwhelming call of our local community is heard.

In the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Clark had made clear the Healthcare Commission’s report found the physical condition of the Kent and Sussex Hospital had contributed to the problem of infection control and stressed the urgency for final approval (or close) of the PFI finance deal early next year.

Questioning Alan Johnson across the floor of the House on Wednesday, Mr Clark asked:

“Will the Secretary of State assure my constituents that the costs of any extra investment in infection control, any compensation payments that may be made, and the change in leadership of the trust will have no impact on that financial close?"

Continuing, Mr Clark emphasised:

“If there is one thing that my constituents would never forgive, it is a failure to learn the lessons of this episode, causing what has been a nightmare over the last three years to become a continuing nightmare for the next 30 years.”

Formal assurance was secured from Health Secretary Alan Johnson who responded:

“I can give the hon. Gentleman that assurance …. Given the age of the hospital and the buildings involved, it is more imperative that we go ahead with those new hospital facilities than it was before this report. Nothing that happens here—no change in the management or fines levied on the trust—will in any way damage or inhibit the need for that new hospital to be built for his constituency.”

Health secretary
Alan Johnson MP

At Wednesdays meeting, Mr Clark also called for the Secretary of State’s support for new leadership and stability within the Trust’s Governing Board from which the Chairman resigned yesterday. Mr Clark stated:

“Leadership of the highest level combined with stability is now essential if the Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is to emerge swiftly from this highly damaging and tragic episode.

“Yet we have a Trust with no chairman, a part-time Chief Executive, directors still employed who were criticised in the Healthcare Commission’s report, and non-executive directors who have failed in their duty to hold managers to account in the interests of patients. I called upon the Secretary of State to take every step to ensure that a new Board is filled with the very highest calibre of individual and that the voice of patients and local residents is always heard. Never again must the wool be pulled over the eyes of the Hospital Board as it has been to such devastating and tragic effect.”