MP fights for fairer funding for Westmorland General Hospital

On the floor of the House of Commons this afternoon, South Lakes MP Tim Farron pushed the Government to end the heartless fines being imposed on the area's local NHS trust.

NHS trusts get charged interest on loans they take from the Government, resulting in University Morecambe Bay NHS Trust being robbed of over £4m over the past three years because of underfunding of rural trusts.

To add further insult to injury, yesterday the Government announced new money for hospitals in Barrow and Lancaster but nothing for Kendal.

Speaking during Treasury Questions, Tim said: "In his announcement this week, the Chancellor has chosen not to invest a single penny in the Westmorland General Hospital at Kendal.

"But will he at least end the Treasury's 3% deficit tax on our local hospitals trust which has cost £4m from hospital spending in the past three years - money that should have been spent on a new radiotherapy centre for local cancer patients."

In response the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rishi Sunak made no mention of health spending on the Westmorland General Hospital or the deficit tax but said that the Government had promised £34bn for the NHS as a whole over the next 5 years.