The health secretary has received a special Valentine's card this year – from people asking him for the gift of a new hospital.  

Save the QEH campaigners collected signatures across the hospital’s catchment area, including Wisbech, and hand delivered the card to Steve Barclay’s constituency office at the weekend.  

Their hope is that Mr Barclay, who is also the MP for North East Cambridgeshire, will find it in his heart to replace the crumbling Queen Elizabeth Hospital [QEH] in King’s Lynn.  

“We want Steve Barclay to show us all some love and fund a new QEH,” said Jo Rust, a spokesperson for the Save the QEH campaign.

Ms Rust, also an independent councillor on West Norfolk Council, added: “Thousands of people, including his own constituents, have signed this card asking for the gift of a new hospital in King’s Lynn.  

“People were queuing up to sign it and they couldn’t believe that we’re still waiting for the announcement on whether or not it’s going to happen.”  

Experts say the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in King’s Lynn, will be unsafe to use by 2030.  

The roof is being held up by more than 3,000 props – the most of any hospital in the country.  

The building was given an expected working life of 30 years when it was built in the late 1970s.  

The 500-bed hospital, and the community it serves, is still waiting to hear whether it will get the green light to be rebuilt on the current car park.  

Wisbech Standard: Save Our QEH campaigners deliver Mr Barclay his Valentine's Card - asking for the gift of a new hospital. Save Our QEH campaigners deliver Mr Barclay his Valentine's Card - asking for the gift of a new hospital. (Image: Save Our QEH Campaign)

Earlier this month, the EDP reported claims a Conservative pledge to build 40 new hospitals by the end of the decade is in trouble – and the QEH could be one of them.   

The commitment to build the new hospitals by 2030 was one of the key elements of Boris Johnson’s 2019 general election manifesto.   

But through parliamentary questions and Freedom of Information requests, the Liberal Democrats have found out the programme is behind schedule.  

Just 10 of the 40 hospitals have full planning permission – and there were concerns the promised target could be missed.  

Then North West Norfolk MP James Wild urged the Treasury to back plans to include the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in any upcoming announcements about the hospitals being built by 2030. 

“I’ll keep taking every opportunity to press for a decision asap,” he Tweeted, alongside a video of him asking speaking in the House of Commons.  

A decision on funding the new hospital was hinted at two or three times in the autumn, but never materialised.  

Before Christmas, NHS sources and politicians both said it would be early in the New Year. 

The delay prompted West Norfolk Council leader Cllr Stuart Dark MBE to meet with Mr Wild and Mr Barclay on Thursday (February 9) in London.  

Wisbech Standard: Cllr Stuart Dark MBE, leader of West Norfolk Council, met with MP James Wild and the health secretary Steve Barclay in London. Cllr Stuart Dark MBE, leader of West Norfolk Council, met with MP James Wild and the health secretary Steve Barclay in London. (Image: West Norfolk Council)

Cllr Dark said: "At our meeting I was able to once more state this council’s long-standing, united, cross-party position that the QEH needs to be urgently replaced and that the delay in an announcement of a funding decision was causing continuing concern. 

"I was heartened that the Secretary of State clearly understood the serious challenges faced by the QEH specifically, and RAAC [rebar autoclaved aerated concrete] hospitals in general, and took on board the issue of our community needing as early an announcement as possible. 

"This meeting, and the response from The Chief Secretary of the Treasury to James Wild's question in parliament earlier this week, has given me much optimism for the outcome of the QEH bid." 

Mr Barclay has been approached for comment.