Local champion and MP Clive Jones is fighting for a new Royal Berkshire Hospital

Local champion and MP Clive Jones is fighting for a new Royal Berkshire Hospital and has written to the new Secretary of health asking for a meeting.

In his first official letter as MP for Wokingham, Clive Jones has written to Secretary of State for Health, Wes Streeting, calling for the urgent rebuilding of the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

The Royal Berkshire Hospital is in desperate need of modernisation and rebuilding after years of neglect by the Conservative government. The new hospital building programme was announced in 2019 and come 2024 was still only 50% funded by the Conservative government who were hoping to put aside about £20 billion nationally. Not only that, but their promise that a rebuild of Royal Berkshire Hospital would begin in 2024 and be completed by 2030 has proved to be an empty one, with a Minister from the previous government, Lord Markham telling Clive Jones that building would not begin until 2031, so completion at the earliest in 2037.

This issue is particularly pertinent for our new MP, not just because it's a historic hospital of nearly 200 years old, but the hospital was both the site that treated him for cancer in 2008, and the place of birth for both of his children.

In his letter to the new Secretary of State for Health, Clive Jones, the MP for Wokingham said, “We can’t wait until 2037 for new facilities at Royal Berks, it’s not fair to the staff or to the patients. Our staff do the most fantastic job in difficult circumstances.

“Several parts of the hospital were built in 1839 and they are not fit for purpose. The chemotherapy ward was built in 1911 as a children's ward. The windows don’t always open or close, there is no air conditioning, it’s awful working conditions. We must do something.

“Today a new Royal Berks would cost £1.2 billion. £20 billion [nationally] is not enough. The new government has to commit now to doubling its spending on the New Hospital building scheme.”