A Norfolk MP has urged the health secretary to rubber stamp the building of a new hospital in King's Lynn.

Elizabeth Truss, MP for South West Norfolk and newly-appointed foreign secretary, said she had raised issues over the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) with Sajid Javid, secretary of state for health and social care.

Parts of the roof have to be propped up to stop them from falling in at the QEH, which was built with an expected working life of 30 years in the late 1970s.

The QEH was not included in a list of 40 hospitals being given funding for new builds or renovations announced by the government last year, but it is currently one of 16 waiting to see whether it will be awarded one of eight new builds planned between 2030 and 2035.

Our petition to see the hospital rebuilt has had more than 9,000 signatures.

Ms Truss said: "The need for a new hospital in King's Lynn is a priority and I raised this directly with the secretary of state for health Sajid Javid today.

"The health secretary told me he is looking into the QEH’s situation and my colleague, the King's Lynn MP James Wild, is also making the case for a new build. It is a key health care provider in west Norfolk serving a wide geographic area and an ever increasing population."

She said the props are "highly visible" and the roof was having "emergency repairs on a rolling basis".

She said while £20m of capital investment into the hospital was welcome, the current building's lifespan was nearing its end.