The Government has confirmed that Morpeth is to benefit from a new hospital at Northgate, as part of its plans to build 40 new hospitals across England.

Welcoming the news, Parliamentary Spokesman for Wansbeck Jack Gebhard said that it proved the Conservatives were delivering on their promises to deliver on the people’s priorities, such as the NHS.

The Prime Minister has confirmed for the first time 40 hospitals that will be built by 2030 as part of a package worth £3.7 billion, as well as announcing a further 8 new schemes that will be invited to bid. Full details of the precise funding allocated so far to each project will be announced at the next Spending Review.

The funding allocated will be used to build a single integrated secure service centre of excellence at Northgate Hospital, Morpeth and the re-provision of Newcastle and Gateshead adult acute inpatient services at St Nicholas Hospital, Newcastle. Reprovision of Children's and Young People's medium secure inpatient services to Ferndene, Prudhoe, Northumberland.

The Conservative Government has made investing in the NHS a key part of its plans to build back better after coronavirus. It has already:

• Delivered the biggest cash boost in history for the NHS, totalling an additional £33.9 billion for the NHS every year by 2023-24.
• Announced £1.5 billion this year for hospital maintenance, including funding to expand A&E capacity.
• Started work to deliver 50,000 more nurses, another key election pledge, with more than 14,000 more nurses already working in the NHS compared to last year.
• Providing £850 million to upgrade facilities and equipment at 20 hospitals.

The news comes ahead of Conservative Party Conference, at which the Prime Minister will set out the Conservatives’ plan to build back better and deliver lasting change in parts of the country forgotten by successive governments.

Commenting, Jack said:

“I was proud to see the Conservatives elected with an 80 seat majority at last year’s election and now we’re delivering on the people’s priorities, such as investing in the NHS.

“I am thrilled that a new hospital will be built in Morpeth– showing that, despite a challenging year, our Government is delivering on the pledges they made during the last election campaign. Some people said we wouldn’t do it and others said we couldn’t but this is a real signal that we are improving the facilities available to the Health Service we’re proud of.

“Supporting people with mental health issues and improving services for them is a top priority for our party in Northumberland. It is something I have worked hard on personally and the Mayor of Morpeth is currently fundraising for the local charity Contact which provides a service to people with mental health issues. This investment is a very welcome commitment to mental health services here in the North East.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

“From Morpeth to Milton Keynes, we are building 40 new hospitals across England to level up our NHS so more people have top-class healthcare services in their local area.

“We will build back better with the biggest hospital building programme in a generation.”