Another Delay at Harborough Hospital

When Cllr Phil Knowles broke the news last week that he had uncovered that the Harborough Hospital project is in yet further delay expressions of support for Phil Knowles continued pressure and campaigning on the subject were wide spread.

Members of the public were left expressing their anger at the latest delay and the matter was even raised in Westminster.

Now Phil Knowles has received a number of phone calls from Senior NHS bosses apologising for the latest delay and promising urgent updates.

"I put the whole matter onto the desk of the CEO of NHS England, Simon Stevens; I contacted bosses in Cambridge and at the Clinical Commissioning Group. I left them in no doubt of the absolute disgust at this latest delay and that yet again we only became aware of it because we dug deep and forced out the details into the public arena.

"I have received a number of calls directly from several Senior NHS ‎bosses apologising for the delay, assuring me that there is still 100% support to see the 'New Harborough Hospital' built and explaining what the situation is at this moment.

"It seems that in Tuesday, June 2nd, NHS bosses are set to sit down with one of the major prospective partners who could occupy 40% of the new building. This meeting will determine what this prospective partner needs and will directly impact on the timelines moving forward.

"I made the point that questions need to be asked as to why this meeting has only happened now, nearly twelve weeks after building work should actually have started‎. Like it or not I feel that question begs an answer. In any event I have been promised a call on Tuesday, as soon as the meeting is complete so that we at the very least know what is happening now.

"Will we get a date for the signing of the partnership agreements? Will we get a start date? When will we get a revised and fixed date for completion? All of these questions also need answers and as always I will be pushing the NHS for responses.

"Importantly this time there are two additional questions. Who in the NHS is the person who will have overall responsibility for delivering the 'Harborough Hospital '? What happens if the scheme slips yet again?

"As soon as I receive the update on Tuesday I have told the NHS I will be making the information public, Harborough Expects and the time for the NHS over promising and under delivering on this scheme has to stop and it has to stop now!"

' Cllr Phil Knowles.

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