HEALTH Minister Lord Markham has visited Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital to discuss future upgrade plans.

The Minister, who is responsible for the New Hospital Programme, toured the site to check on plans to develop a range of state-of-the-art medical facilities at Musgrove.

Musgrove 2030 is replacing Second World War buildings still housing key parts of the hospital such as the maternity unit and children’s services.

This phase of development will follow the recent completion of the £11million surgical admissions unit and the £87million surgical theatre complex under construction.

During the visit, Lord Markham chaired a meeting alongside Taunton Deane MP Rebecca Pow with stakeholders from Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, to ensure integrated join up across all sectors of health in the county.

Ms Pow said: “It was a really useful meeting bringing together health leaders from wide ranging parts of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.

"It is important to ensure plans for the new facilities work in a holistic way - out in the community and in primary and acute care.

"Getting a fully streamlined digital system for our health services is pivotal to the success of our future plans.

"At the moment there are literally hundreds of different systems operating in the health sector in Somerset alone and these need to be carefully pulled together.

"This will make such a difference for patients in terms of health outcomes, speed of diagnosis and treatment, but it will also be really important in ensuring our hard-working health professionals can spend their time on what really matters rather than worrying about how to access multiple, diverse digital systems."

Ms Pow added that Musgrove has the potential to become a digital pilot leader locally and nationally.

"I will be working with local health stakeholders and Lord Markham on the future possibilities," said Ms Pow.

Lord Markham said: “The South West will benefit from 11 new hospitals by 2030 and I’ve been visiting some of the sites and speaking to patients, staff and local leaders across the region about the plans and progress.

"These hospitals and upgrades will help to improve care and allow patients to be seen more quickly, which will help to cut waiting lists – one of the government’s top five priorities.

“In the long term, our new standardised design means we can rapidly replicate new hospitals across the country, helping to speed up construction and deliver on our commitment of 40 new hospitals by 2030.”

Somerset Council LibDem member Cllr Adam Dance said: "This is a long overdue work plan but has come too late in the day for many who have suffered as a result of the Conservative Government refusing to act previously.

“Patients across Somerset are languishing on NHS waiting lists or struggling to get a GP appointment because the Conservatives have driven our health services into the ground for years.

“After promises of new hospitals that were never built or won’t be built on time (potentially such as Musgrove redevelopment) and extra GPs who were never recruited, the public will rightly judge this Conservative government on their actions not their words.”