TIM Cleworth is going to be sorely disappointed if he thinks £142million will buy him a new hospital (Warrington Guardian, September 26).

NHS Providers who represent acute trusts stated back in October 2022 that a mid-sized general hospital costs around half-a-billion pounds.

Since then, according to Statista.com, hospital build costs have increased by more than 10 per cent.

Given Warrington has not even chosen a site, the mind boggles as to what the final cost might be and when.

We hear almost every week from different sides in the Guardian that ‘the case has been made’.

But despite a decade as a staff nurse, and time as a staff governor and public governor, I have yet to hear a detailed reasoning why it is needed.

Of course, I can hear those now shouting: “Does he not know how much Warrington has grown?”

But (spoiler alert), any new site will have fewer beds than Lovely Lane.

The trust has already lost vascular surgery to Chester and upper GI to another regional centre.

After 14 years of austerity, Covid and Brexit, the country is broke – there is no money for the mythical 40 new hospitals promised by Boris Johnson.

Instead, we need to concentrate on primary healthcare provision and health measures like Rishi Sunak’s excellent anti-smoking legislation, not hugely expensive and frankly unaffordable new-build hospitals.

With entrants to nursing courses dropping by more than 21 per cent post-Covid, who would staff them anyway?

Time for a real discussion of the alternatives perhaps?

ALLAN RALSTON

Callands