Hazel Grove MP Lisa Smart has written to government Health Minister Karin Smyth following the news that closures at Buxton Hospital have put pressure on Stepping Hill. 

Nine outpatient services including gynaecology, urology and respiratory care will no longer be available at Buxton Hospital. 

Patients have been advised that these services will be available 16 miles away at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, The BBC reports. 

Ms Smart, a Liberal Democrat, wrote to Karin Smyth warning that the transfer of services will worsen the situation at Stepping Hill. 

"The Government is well aware of the massive backlog of repairs facing the hospital – £138 million at the last count – yet rather than address that, they are heaping even more pressure on to the hospital", Ms Smart said.

One patient told the BBC: "Waiting times are ridiculous- over sixteen weeks to be seen." 

The MP states in her letter that the Trust currently estimates the backlog of repair work required at Stepping Hill would cost £138 million, yet the funding that has been made available was a 'fraction' of that. 

"I am deeply concerned that at a time when Stepping Hill requires urgent improvements to its estate in order to be able to cope with the burdens placed upon it, this transfer of services cannot but worsen this situation. 

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"It furthers the case for a second site for Stepping Hill Hospital in order to manage the weight of services that are demanded from a modern 21st century NHS hospital; not the pre-NHS buildings that make up part of the current estate." 

The MP has asked for further meetings with the Health Minister to look at how funding can be used to ensure the standards which patients expect of a modern NHS. 

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