A former Conservative MP and influential chair of the health committee has resigned from a senior role in the NHS after feeling unable to “sign off further cuts” because the “elastic was already stretched too far”.
Sarah Wollaston, a GP for 20 years before becoming a Member of Parliament in 2010, resigned as chair of NHS Devon with immediate effect on Tuesday. She said she was “not happy” with new plans that promised “unachievable” results that would only be possible with “unacceptable consequences” for patients.
She took aim at the government over the ‘utterly shocking’ state of infrastructure in the NHS, warning of a ‘shocking waste of public money’ and ‘missed opportunities’ as crumbling hospitals and GP practices struggle to access vital capital funds. The crisis made her “genuinely sad,” she said.
Health bosses have repeatedly warned ministers of the desperate need to replace dilapidated buildings to protect the safety of patients and staff. The maintenance backlog has increased to £11.6 billion in England, the Guardian reported earlier this year.
‘It is with regret that I have decided to step down as chairman of NHS Devon’ Wollaston wrote on X. “Thank you to all the wonderful NHS, healthcare and voluntary sector teams who are doing their very best in challenging circumstances. Felt unable to sign off on further cuts; elastic already stretched too far.”
Wollaston, who was appointed chair of NHS Devon in 2021, also criticized a funding regime that she said was damaging NHS organizations under the worst pressure.
“It really makes no sense to ‘punish’ the most threatened systems with fines on their capital budgets, when access to capital is essential to improving their performance, conditions and security. The state of our infrastructure is downright shocking in too many places.
“The next government must break the cycle of capital-to-revenue transfers and pay serious attention to investment in NHS infrastructure. We must also address the shocking waste of public money and missed opportunities due to delays in access to capital.”
NHS Devon is one of the worst hit healthcare systems in England, with “significant financial and performance issues”, The Health Service Journal reports this.
Wollaston added: “Really sad to be leaving NHS Devon but in a nutshell, not happy as chairman to sign off on the financials so time for me to go. There is no point in promising the unattainable, especially if it is achievable with unacceptable consequences.”
Wollaston became the Conservative MP for Totnes in Devon in 2010. In 2019, she left the party to join Change UK, later becoming an independent MP before losing her seat at the election that year as a Liberal Democrat.
In a statement, Elizabeth O’Mahony, the south-west regional director of NHS England, thanked Wollaston for her “valuable contribution”. NHS Devon deputy chairman Kevin Orford was appointed interim chairman.
