West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has welcomed news that Worcestershire’s hospitals have won funding worth more than £5 million for an IT project. The extra funding has been confirmed by Health Secretary Matthew Hancock following lobbying by county MPs who pressed for investment in the Trust’s plans to make urgent improvements to its clinical IT systems. Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust chief executive Matthew Hopkins briefed local MPs on the request for extra cash and Harriett sent a letter to the Department for Health and Social Care co-signed by her county MP colleagues. The extra funding is allocated alongside the £29 million project to increase capacity at the three county hospitals run by the Acute Trust. Harriett commented: “I had a meeting with the new leadership team earlier this year where they set out the need to invest in an IT project which will result in substantial efficiency savings and they asked for the MPs to lobby the Department for support. “I am delighted that this project has been approved and last week I was contacted by the Health Secretary confirming this news and thanking me and my colleagues for flagging this project to him. “The Trust has a challenging task dealing both with the extra demand issues but also working with the NHS to come out of special measures. “This investment is yet more proof that the Government’s Long Term Plan for the NHS is fully committed to creating the right conditions to allow the Trust to improve and deliver the best possible care for us and our loved ones.”