MP wants answers on lost finance for hospital

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust applied for the money for Hull Royal Infirmary from a £250m pot of extra cash being allocated to A&E departments across the country to relieve increased pressure during the winter months, but was turned down.

The Labour MP for Hull North, who visited the hospital yesterday, confirmed that she will now take the matter up with Mr Hunt when the House of Commons reconvenes next month.

She said: “Last week the coalition Government allocated £250m of emergency winter top-up funding for A&Es across the country.

“It was announced that NHS trusts in neighbouring areas to Hull and East Yorkshire – such as York, Leeds and Northern Lincolnshire – are getting extra A&E funding of up to £2m each. But the NHS trust serving Hull saw their bid for around £2m rejected.

“NHS hospitals have to cope with the coalition’s wasteful top-down reorganisation, the botched introduction of NHS 111 and the loss of thousands of nurses.

“New figures also show that the NHS in Yorkshire and Humber has lost 1,264 nursing posts since 2010 under the coalition, while the South East Coast area has actually gained 552.

“As with the distribution of council funding, Hull is not getting a fair deal from this coalition Government.

“Hull, the tenth most deprived area of the country, should be one of the first in line for any extra A&E funding.”

She added: “A&Es have had their worst summer in a decade, but now Hull’s A&E will have to get through the coming winter with none of the extra help given to other areas.”

Ms Johnson said nearly a million patients across the country had waited longer than four hours to be seen at A&E last year.