The new £291-million Women and Children’s Hospital promised for Cornwall may now never be built, Secretary of State for Health Wes Streeting has admitted.

The much-mooted project was scheduled for completion by 2028 and would combine maternity, neonatal, paediatric and obstetric and gynaecology services into one building and serve as the new main entrance for the Royal Cornwall Hospital.

In a letter to MPs, Mr Streeting said: “This government is fully committed to an NHS estate that is fit for the future. However, from our first weeks in office, it was clear that the New Hospital Programme (NHP) was undeliverable, unaffordable, and estimated costs had risen by billions. Combined with the incredibly challenging fiscal inheritance that the Chancellor set out in her statement on July 29, it has become clear that the challenges facing the NHP, and the wider public finances, are much more severe than we were aware.

“This government wants to see the NHP completed, but we are not prepared to offer people false hope about how soon they will benefit from the facilities they deserve. We must reset the NHP to put it on a sustainable footing.”

In response, Andrew George, Lib Dem MP for St Ives – speaking on behalf of all six MPs – has written to Mr Streeting saying “how alarmed” he and his colleagues are at the news.

“As well as being extremely unwelcome to the six of us, your letter will cause dismay not only amongst our NHS colleagues, but also the wider community, whose hopes had been cruelly raised by the promises of the previous government. The news is both shocking and disappointing.

“Shocking, in that local ICB and acute Trust executives, though anxious, gave the six of us the impression that confirmation of the delivery of this project would be a formality. Disappointing though unsurprising, in that the previous Conservative government should promise these ‘new hospitals’ when they knew full-well they never budgeted the money to deliver them. We will, of course, make sure the local population is made aware of this.”

Mr George adds in his letter: “You imply that you’d be willing to meet us. On behalf of Cornwall’s six MPs, I’d like to lodge a request to meet as soon as possible to ensure your department and you are aware just how critical this project is for our population. Those parents at my (western) end of Cornwall can’t seek alternative services to the west, south or north. The geographic case alone should be sufficient to persuade the review team and you to support this vitally important project.

“The current Princess Alexandra Suite should also be viewed by the review team in the same way as it views seven projects with RAAC, as that building has similar substantive safety risks.”