LOCAL MP Gideon Amos has urged the government not to cancel investment in Musgrove Park Hospital after the Health Secretary has said the project is under review and may not be completed.

Forming part of the 40 new hospitals scheme, announced by the Tories, the project is under threat of losing funding following a letter sent to MPs which have projects under review by the Health Secretary.

Mr Amos has called on the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, to ensure that the funding is made available for the hospital project to go ahead and to use changes to the fiscal rules at the Budget referred to by the Chancellor in a recent speech to ensure the funding is made available.

He also called on the Health Secretary to meet with them so they could explain why patients in Taunton and Wellington “could not afford to lose” funding for this project.

Mr Amos, Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton and Wellington, said: “The Conservatives made a hopelessly unrealistic promise that they would build a new hospital in Taunton by 2030, but never funded it.

“They then said the new maternity unit would be built instead but failed to approve its funding as well.

“They have given false hope to those mothers giving birth and to the staff working - and fainting - in 30 degree heat, who the rest of the year have to watch out for buckets in the corridors to catch the leaks.

“In short, the Conservatives ran our NHS into the ground, leaving patients and staff at risk in crumbling hospitals. That cannot be the same under this new government.

“Patients and health care workers here in Taunton and Wellington deserve better.

“Liberal Democrats are calling on the new government to ensure funding is available for our local health services.

“For years, the Conservatives ignored the crisis in our health service - now we need to change that.”

Exmoor farmer and Conservative campaigner, James Wright, has launched a public campaign to protect the future of Musgrove Park Hospital’s £87 million state-of-the-art surgical facility.