Wes Streeting to meet Mayor Ben Houchen over new North East hospital

Conservative Ben Houchen says he has been trying to secure a meeting regarding a potential new hospital, with Mr Streeting since Labour came to power in July 2024.

This week on a local radio appearance, Mr Streeting said he was up for meeting the Tees Valley’s politician.

Mayor Houchen was pleased with the development, saying on Facebook that he had written to Mr Streeting to get a meeting in the diary, adding that he hopes to get a plan moving forward “as soon as possible”.

Ben Houchen speaking at UKREiiF (Image: Ben Houchen)

A spokesperson for the mayor says this was the fourteenth letter that Mayor Houchen has written on the matter, following news last summer that he had reached out to the health secretary 13 times.

Mr Streeting appeared on BBC Radio Tees on Thursday, January 22, and was grilled about the state of Stockton’s hospital.

Earlier this month, during his own question and answer session on BBC local radio, Mayor Houchen provided an update regarding the potential of a new hospital for North Tees.

An NHS North Tees Trust spokesperson also commented in relation to the estate, saying: “We continue to progress our investment case.”

Mr Streeting was asked about the University Hospital of North Tees and acknowledged there are “real challenges there” and spoke about “record levels of capital investment into the NHS”. He was asked if he agreed with the Tees Valley mayor that the region needed a new hospital.

Outside the University Hospital of North Tees (Image: LDR)

Mayor Houchen pledged to build a new hospital as part of his 2024 mayoral campaign, while admitting he had no control over health services.

In response, Mr Streeting said: “Well, Ben is very welcome to show me the colour of his money if he wants to fund hospital improvements in North Tees, I’d be very happy to talk to him about it.”

The health secretary was pressed on the numerous attempts made by Mayor Houchen to get in touch with him and said: “I’m always happy to meet our mayors.”

However, he declined to commit to, or confirm government interest in, a new hospital in Stockton, citing more services being offered outside of hospitals.

During a radio appearance on Wednesday, January 7, Colin Holt challenged Mayor Houchen, saying that he had promised that he would facilitate a new hospital to replace North Tees despite having “no power” to do anything about it. In response, the mayor said the local NHS trust and the ICB had been going through a “huge assessment” about health requirements and provision across the region, which had taken some time.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting (Image: James Manning/PA)

He believed that there is a “financial mechanism” under which the combined authority can build and fund a new hospital, but he can’t do that until the local health experts and local trusts tell him what is needed.

Mayor Houchen explained the programme currently being undertaken looks at whether certain services that are being delivered in North Tees Hospital could be done in Stockton town centre or Yarm High Street.

He said: “Would they be better served in the local community rather than in a big hospital?”

While there are certain services, such as intensive care and A&E that need to be in a hospital, the question he asked is what else needs to be in that “hospital box”.

Mayor Houchen said that work is being undertaken and it is “not a short piece of work”. He said he thought such work was “very close” to being finalised.

Once this work is done, it will be possible to design the hospital, “because you know what’s going in it”, and then costs and other arrangements become clearer, Mayor Houchen explained.

He said there could be “significant progress” on the hospital over the next 18 months, although this doesn’t mean there will be a spade in the ground in such a time period.

He also said that his information was “second hand” at this time, but once the trust and the ICB’s work is done, the next step will be getting everyone around the table and seeing if there was a will to deliver a new hospital, which he believes can still be achieved.

When contacted for comment, a spokesperson for North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust said: “Our estate across University Hospitals Tees remains a priority for both patients and staff.

“We know it can optimise recovery for our patients and recruitment opportunities for staff. We remain dedicated to ensuring UHT explores all opportunities in relation to delivering high quality, safe care. We continue to progress our case for investment.”