JAMES McMurdock MP, Member of Parliament for South Basildon and East Thurrock, has criticised the Government’s response to serious and ongoing issues at Basildon Hospital after the Department has declined an invitation from Mr McMurdock to visit the site in person.
Following a Prime Minister’s Question raising concerns about patient safety at Basildon Hospital, particularly relating to emergency care, Mr McMurdock formally wrote to the Secretary of State on October 30th , 2025, inviting them to visit the hospital to see the challenges facing staff and patients alike first-hand. A response has now been received, almost three months later, on 23rd January 2026.
Mr McMurdock has described the reply as generic and disappointing, noting that it failed to engage meaningfully with the concerns he had raised, and rejected the opportunity for a ministerial visit to the hospital.
Local residents and NHS staff have repeatedly raised issues relating to capacity pressures, patient flow and overall quality of care. Mr McMurdock believes these concerns cannot be properly understood or addressed without direct engagement from those introducing policy in the Government.
Commenting on this, Mr McMurdock said: “after raising this matter directly with the Prime Minister and writing to the Secretary of State, I expected a serious response that reflected the gravity of the situation at Basildon Hospital. Instead, I received a generic letter and a refusal to visit the hospital to see the problems for themselves.”
“Patients and staff deserve better than box-ticking responses that take a quarter of a year to write and do nothing to move the matter forward. If Ministers are unwilling to come and see the reality of this problem, it raises serious questions about how committed they are to fixing these issues.”
Mr McMurdock has made it clear that he will continue to pursue this issue in Parliament and locally, until there is meaningful engagement and tangible action to improve the services at Basildon Hospital.
