A party chief will urge ‘heartless’ ministers to hand back millions to the borough’s struggling health services later this week.
Official figures show that Stockport NHS Foundation Trust was charged £4m in interest payments over the five financial years up to 2017/18, while Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and The Christie had to return had to return £14m and £3.5m respectively.
The statistics were revealed following a Freedom of Information request made by the Liberal Democrats.
Coun Lisa Smart, deputy leader of Stockport Lib Dems, will now call on fellow councillors to back a motion demanding the government stops charging interest on annual overspends and issues a one-off refund covering the last five years.
Speaking ahead of Thursday night’s full council meeting at the town hall Coun Smart said the situation was a case of government underfunding rather than overspending.
She said "While hard working doctors and nurses are being forced to work with insufficient resources, it's frankly heartless that the Conservatives have starved Stockport NHS Foundation Trust (which runs Stepping Hill hospital) of over £4m.
"If the Conservatives were actually giving our hospitals the funding they need then health trusts wouldn't be forced to run a deficit in the first place.”
The motion cites a warning from the National Audit Office which found “the underlying financial health in some trusts is getting worse” adding ‘the artifice of making NHS trusts in deficit pay interest on their overspends merely serves to make their financial positions worse and deprives local residents of the care they need’.
However Coun Mike Hurlestone, leader of Stockport’s Conservative group, said his party would not be supporting the motion as it was an issue the council had ‘no power whatsoever’ over.
“My view is that the motion is a waste of time, we should be concentrating on things that we can influence, of benefit to Stockport,” he said.
However, Coun Hurlestone did defend the Conservative government’s handling of health budgets.
He said: “The interest is recycled anyway, it goes round the system and goes back in anyway. You have to have some means of control, everybody has to operate to some kind of budget.”
Coun Jude Wells, cabinet member for adult care and health, said Labour would ‘wait to hear the debate and vote accordingly’ but were ‘cautious’ about electioneering on the Lib Dems part.
She added: “Obviously we support a properly funded NHS, the challenge for us is that everything is nationally decided, we don’t have a lot of control as a local council on NHS funding.”
Commenting on the motion, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We want patients to receive world class care in a safe environment.
“NHS Trusts rightly have the responsibility to manage their finances but, where Trusts do struggle financially, we will provide short-term loans to ensure they continue to run vital services and provide outstanding care to patients, with the interest paid going back to the NHS.
“We are also backing the NHS with an extra £33.9 billion a year by 2023/24 in cash terms to support our Long Term Plan, which aims to ensure no provider is in deficit by 2024.”
