Calls for new Stockport hospital as MP says Stepping Hill 'not fit for purpose'

There are calls for a new hospital in Stockport after a local MP said Stepping Hill is "not fit for purpose."

Tom Morrison, MP for Cheadle, said the borough needs a "modern" new healthcare facility to serve residents, alongside "desperate" repairs for Stepping Hill which has faced major problems with its estate.

The Outpatients B department at Stepping Hill was forced to close in November, after an inspection found 'significant deterioration' in the structure of the building.

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Since then, the hospital has been plagued with other issues, including collapsing ceilings and flooded corridors.

It was first opened in 1905, and employs around 6,300 members of staff.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Morrison said: "The desperate issue is getting Stepping Hill repaired so staff and patients have somewhere that's fit for purpose.

"But the long-term ambition has to be a new hospital. Stepping Hill can't carry on in the grounds it is in, we need a modern hospital building."

Calls for a new hospital in the borough have also been made by Stockport MP Navendu Mishra and Hazel Grove MP Lisa Smart.

In May, Mr Mishra raised the issue at Prime Minister's Questions in Parliament, asking Rishi Sunak if the situation at the site was the result of "14 years of successive Conservative failure."

He told the LDRS: "There are almost eight million people on the waiting list for NHS treatment and tackling that is a priority, but it's also about securing the future of a first class medical facility [in Stockport]."

After Ms Smart was elected in the general election in July, she wrote a joint letter with her Cheadle Lib Dem colleague