"Upton Park & Heatherwood Hospital"

I have had first hand experience of treatment in both these hospitals in the last two weeks and can honestly say that the service from everyone- with the exception of one receptionist at Heatherwood Hospital - was first rate.

Appointments were resonably to time and I received exceptional care from both doctors I saw. However neither of these hospital buildings are fit for purpose in my opinion. I feel that the waste of space in long wide corridors and old fashioned design and the difficulty in keeping them clean and of good decorative state must be a challenge, whilst there is evidence of maintenance it really strikes me that they are throwing good money away that could be better spent elsewhere. I think they must cost a fortune to run in heating alone, and I feel it would be better to knock them down and start again. To me this is an area where the health economics has been far to short term and trying to maintain old hospitals cannot be sensible use of NHS budget.

I am not advocating short term selling off of NHS building to then rent from the private sector what I would like to see is sensible discussions about health requirements in the areas and then proper investment in "fit for purpose buildings" with good estate management - that could with good estate management actually make money renting space to the private sector !