NHS Reorganisation

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Dr. Taylor), who owes his parliamentary career to a successful campaign to defend Kidderminster hospital—which, I understand, is still there. He speaks with great authority on these matters. I am sorry that my near neighbour, the Secretary of State for Health, the right hon. Member for Leicester, West (Ms Hewitt), is not here today. I understand that she is unwell. I share a hospital with her, I share a city with her, but I did not share the meal with her last night that caused her illness. We would like her to get well soon and come back to Leicester this Friday, for two reasons. First, we want to thank her for the huge amount of money that the Government have given to Leicester over the last eight years. There has been an increase of about 98 per cent. in PCT funding, I understand, with three brand new health centres in the city. Two are in my constituency; one in Hamilton and the other soon to start in Charnwood. Secondly, we want to thank her for giving us a PCT that was so responsive to the needs of local people, and I pay tribute to Carolyn Clifton for her excellent work. When I and others have raised issues with her, she has responded swiftly to those concerns and provided us with the services that we need. That is why I am so surprised that the Government wish to reorganise the PCTs in Leicester when they are doing so well. We have a particular expertise in our part of the city, where we deal with problems different from those encountered by those who live in the constituency of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. With things going so well, so much more money being provided and the PCT being so responsive, I am surprised that the Government feel it necessary to merge the two organisations. I am sure there is a justification—I have heard a justification made on the grounds of money—but there is not a justification in terms of responsiveness to the local community.I hope that when the Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr. Byrne), replies, he will give more of a justification than saying that it will save £1.5 million a year, or whatever it is. In a budget so vast and ever-increasing, that sounds like a small amount of money, given that we spent much more than that when we set up the PCTs a few years ago. I hope that we will have a response that justifies that decision. I am concerned about the abolition of the Eastern Leicester PCT because I am worried about the pathway project, which is central to the rebuilding of the hospital in my constituency, the Leicester general hospital. I have now represented Leicester, East for almost 20 years and I was promised—as were the other right hon. and hon. Members who have represented the city for a generation—that we would have new hospitals as a result of the pathway project. I understand that because of the reorganisation, the pathway project in Leicester is now on hold. That means that the investment of £761 million that was to be made in the NHS in Leicester will not now take place. That means that we will not get a new Leicester general hospital, nor the extra cancer facilities that we were promised, nor the new children’s hospital, which was to be based in Glenfield, in the constituency of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. That is a worry to my constituents and me, because we believe that the Government are absolutely sincere in their commitment to spending money on the NHS and spending it wisely. In addition to the pathway project, other hospitals will also be put on hold. I know that a similar decision has been taken at Barts, for example. I was telephoned yesterday by one of the Barts consultants, who is very concerned that the Leicester changes are being linked to what is happening in other parts of the country. So when the Minister responds, I hope that he can reassure me that the proposed reorganisation of Leicester PCTs—I understand the arguments in favour of such reorganisation, but it needs better justification—will not in any way affect the additional money coming in. I know that some of my colleagues do not favour private finance initiatives—they believe that they will somehow prove unhelpful to local people—but I favour them, because I will get a new hospital out of such expenditure.