‘UTTER TOSH’ were the words used by Bracknell’s former MP to describe his successor’s latest comments on the New Frimley Hospital.

James Sunderland, who represented Bracknell Forest as MP for five years, has hit out at current MP Peter Swallow after he published an opinion piece regarding the reportedly uncertain fate of a new Frimley Hospital being built.

It comes after the Labour government announced the national project that the proposed hospital is part of, brought in by the previous Conservative government, will be put ‘under review’.

The plan, which promises to deliver 40 new hospitals by 2030, is being reviewed as part of the Chancellor’s economic provisions to address a £22 billion ‘black hole’ in it’s finances.

Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey was granted funding for replacement in May 2023 due to its current premises being made up of around 65 per cent unstable concrete. This is in key areas including operating theatres, intensive care units, wards, and corridors.

Following the announcement, the new MP for Bracknell Peter Swallow said he would ‘lobby hard to deliver a new Frimley Park Hospital’, and that there is ‘no other option’ but to relocate.

Writing in the News, the Labour MP said: “It’s now clear that the previous government had no idea how they were going to fund the new Frimley Park.”

Former MP James Sunderland has criticised this claim as ‘utter tosh’. Writing on X, Mr Sunderland said that the funding position ‘has repeatedly been made clear’. He added that ‘any decision by Labour not to proceed will be political’.

Mr Sunderland lobbied for the new hospital to be built during his time as MP. In April 2023 he wrote a joint letter to the Health Secretary with members for Surrey Heath and Aldershot. In the letter they wrote: “A new site is likely to take approximately five to seven years to secure, design and build, meaning that news on the trust’s bid is needed imminently to avoid any interruption to services.”

Funding was then secured a month later. At the time, NHS Frimley said the new hospital ‘will enable the transformation of services for patients and the local community’.

Mr Swallow highlighted that an investigation by the public accounts committee in Parliament had found that the Conservatives ‘hadn’t properly costed the programme or accounted for delays’.

In response to his predecessor, he said: “Time to end the ‘tosh’ and be honest.”

Mr Swallow has promised that his government will ‘set out a costed plan with a credible timeline’.