High Peak MP Robert Largan has welcomed the news that Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust is set to receive an additional £1,897,000 to support Accident & Emergency (A&E) capacity ahead of the winter months.
This means that the Trust will be able to increase its A&E capacity, put enhanced infection prevention and control measures in place, and make improvements to emergency care and urgent treatment services.
Across England, the Government is providing £300 million to A&E departments, with work to be completed by the start of next year so hospitals can benefit from the upgrades during the peak of winter.
In June, the Government announced plans to accelerate £5 billion of infrastructure spending as part of a New Deal for Britain, an ambitious economic strategy to rebuild by putting jobs, skills and infrastructure investment at the heart of the Government’s plans. This funding forms part of the New Deal, which allocated a total of £1.5 billion this year for hospital maintenance, hospital building and A&E expansion.
The funding also comes on top of the additional £3 billion that the Government recently announced to help prepare the NHS for the winter months ahead. This funding will allow the NHS to continue to use the extra hospital capacity acquired from the independent sector through the Coronavirus pandemic, and also to maintain the Nightingale Hospitals until the end of March next year.
The money also comes on top of the £16million committed to build a new Urgent Care Centre at Tameside Hospital.
Robert Largan MP commented:
“Staff at Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust have worked tirelessly over recent months, and I would like to thank them for everything they have done to get our local community through the coronavirus pandemic.
“While we hope for the best this winter, we must plan for the worst. This funding to upgrade A&E across the Trust will ensure that we are in the best possible position for the challenges that the winter months may bring.
“The NHS has saved my life twice and I will always fight for local services. I was elected last December on a promise to deliver record NHS investment and level up the health service across the country. I am delighted to see the Government getting on with doing exactly that.”
